


What We Lost In Azran

by Emme2589



Series: Very Gay "Randall Lives" AU [7]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Drinking, Established Relationship, Familial Love, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mild Language, Panic Attacks, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Trauma, desmond is with lady dahlia because i thought that would be interesting, identity crisis, it's not explicit they basically just talk about it, mild sexual themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 41,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22064257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emme2589/pseuds/Emme2589
Summary: Hershel and Randall try to retain some kind of normalcy after the chaos of their past, but when this fails, it leads them on a quest to stop Targent from destroying their family after they tried everything to keep it safe. Sequel toWhat We Lost In Asylum.
Relationships: Angela Ledore/Henry Ledore, Brenda Triton/Clark Triton, Desmond Sycamore/Desmond Sycamore's Wife, Randall Ascot/Hershel Layton
Series: Very Gay "Randall Lives" AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1307387
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

“YES!”

Hershel jumped from his desk when Randall fell to the floor, “Goodness, Randall. Are you alright?”

“Alright!?” Randall scrambled to his feet so he could wave a sheet of paper in Hershel's face, “Do you even understand!? I got the job at the dig site I wanted!"

Hershel was aware of Randall applying for a new job, but he expected him to get it easily thanks to his earlier discovery of Akbadain, as well as other related discoveries.

It had been about ten years since the incident in Akbadain, so the two of them were now 27. They were in Hershel's flat in London, looking through job applications in every newspaper they could get their hands on. The window was above the desk, though it didn’t offer too much light.

Hershel slowly nodded, returning to his own envelopes, “Good for you.”

“Good for me!? That's it!?” Randall kicked off the floor so his chair crashed into the wall, "Hersh, I don't think you understand how important this discovery could possibly be to the-!"

"Yes yes, I've heard all this a million times." Hershel folded up the newspaper he'd been skimming, "Randall, have you perchance had any coffee today?"

"That is not important right now!"

Hershel sighed, sorting through the rest of the mail as Randall continued his spiel about making history. Hershel was happy for him of course, but it's easy to get tired of someone repeating the same phrase over and over again. He felt bad for being so dismissive, but Randall didn't seem to mind. Maybe he just needed to get it out of his system.

As he sorted through his mail, he opened one of his drawers to put a pile of envelopes away. A flash of grey caught the corner of his vision among the warm brown of the wood and the white of the various other letters in the drawer. Hershel tugged it out enough to get a view of it. It was an old photograph from maybe seven years ago. In it, Hershel and Randall had their arms around each other, standing in an empty park, with Gressenheller in the background. Hershel remembered when it was taken. Just before the shutter had gone off, Randall had snuck a kiss onto Hershel's cheek, so Hershel was gazing into the camera with a look of surprise, with Randall's eyes screwed shut. Hershel's mother, Lucille, had taken the photograph.

Hershel smiled at the memory, but then he felt a violent twisting in his stomach. He stowed the photo away before he could lose his focus. That was a long time ago, and the two of them weren't a couple anymore anyway. He was still looking for a specific letter.

"Hersh, are you listening!?"

"Ah!" Hershel dropped one of the letters onto the floor, "Sorry, I must have spaced out. What were you saying?"

Randall rolled his eyes, swiping the dropped letter before Hershel could reach for it, "What are you even looking for?"

"Erm..." Hershel gently tugged on the envelope in Randall's hands until he let go, "I applied for a job too, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Randall fell back into his chair, "That boring teaching job?"

Hershel finally gave up on searching the mail, "I'm sorry, Randall, but I prefer things that are simply less death-defying. Need I remind you what happened last time you scolded me for being boring?"

Randall sighed, slouching in his chair with an annoyed grimace, "No, Hersh. You don't have to remind me. But honestly, you have to admit that until we were really in danger, Akbadain was very cool! We can have fun and stay safe at the same time!"

"But Randall..." Hershel scratched his head under his cap, set atop freshly-cut hair, "Teaching... _is_ fun..."

Randall watched a knocked envelope fall to the floor, letting his hands fall into his lap. After some amount of deliberation, Randall stood up, walked over to Hershel's side, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hersh..." Randall gave him a warm smile, "Come with me to the dig site."

"What?" Hershel pushed his chair away from his desk, "No, I really shouldn't."

"Why not?" Randall inclined his head towards the light spilling in from the window, "It'll be valuable experience, plus it'll get you outside. I'd say that's already a win."

"Yes, but what if-!" Hershel cut himself off.

Randall tapped his foot, "What if...?"

“I don’t know, I’m just concerned is all. I mean, we haven’t been to a dig site in years! What if it doesn’t work for me?”

“Would you rather just sit around here?” Randall took the chair by the window, “Listen, I understand that you’re a nerd who spends all day indoors, but if you never go outside, that might be a problem too, right?”

Hershel took his cap off to fiddle with the seams, “Randall, I’m just not sure.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s permanent.” Randall shrugged, leaning back on the chair, “If you decide you don’t like it, you can always go home.”

Hershel replaced the cap on his head, standing up to stretch his legs. Randall was right, as much as it bothered him. He was simply a homebody, and going out on grand adventures just didn’t suit him much, but staying home and trying to find a local job in London wasn’t going well either. Having a degree just wasn’t as helpful as he thought it might be. Jobs in archeology were in high demand.

Hershel blinked when the sun came out and shone over his eyes. He reached over the desk to pull the curtains shut.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

“Yyyyyyes!” Randall ran from the room, “I’ll tell Lucille! You won’t regret it! I promise!”

Hershel sank back into his chair, resting his elbows on the desk with his fingers laced together. Why did he have a feeling that this was an empty promise?

***

Fear was a curious thing, especially when it was very brief. You could be feeling perfectly normal for ages, but one tiny detail slips and a painful chill shoots up from your stomach to your head. It could last for less than a second as the perceived danger passes, but you still look over your shoulder. You may not have even been afraid at all consciously, but your heart still pounds with involuntary panic in the moment your instincts think they have to save you from danger.

That's what Hershel Layton was feeling as he gazed out over the gorge in the Irish countryside, and judging from Randall's starry eyes and the way he was hopping from one foot to the other, Hershel was alone in feeling that.

"Randall, I thought you said-!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, 'no more dangerous expeditions', but there are a ton of other people! And we're not even here illegally this time!"

"Randall..."

"Come on! I already see Clark in the distance!"

Hershel stumbled after him, "Randall, hold on!"

The dig site indeed was full of people, all dressed in similar practical clothing, with shovels and brushes to carefully extract artifacts from the ground. Clark was at a table to the side, trying to piece together what looked to be an old clay vase with red paint on it.

Hershel had just paused to get his bearings, when something small suddenly crashed into his leg. He was alarmed at first, until he looked down at the sound of a child’s laughter.

“Luke!” Clark nearly dropped his pieces, rushing over to the child now smiling up at Hershel, “I’m so sorry about him, we couldn’t find a sitter in time, and both of us had to be here and-!”

The boy was clearly Clark and Brenda’s. Since college, the two of them had married, but Hershel had never met this child before. Luke appeared to be 3 or 4 years old, and he had the same light brown hair as both of his parents. He wore blue overalls with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath. His hair turned up in the back, just like his father, and he had his mother’s huge, black eyes.

“Clark.” Hershel watched Clark lift his son into his arms, “You didn’t tell me you had a son!”

“Isn’t he gorgeous?” Clark tickled Luke’s stomach, which earned a giggle from the small toddler, “I hope you don’t mind him. He’s very friendly.”

“Dad!” Luke clapped his hands, “And mum! Mum and dad are _here!”_

Hershel could feel his heart melting the longer he watched this small child. Luke drooled all over his shirt, which Clark promptly wiped away with a handkerchief. Luke blew raspberries in protest to the action.

“Whoa!” Randall dropped a regular-sized hat onto tiny Luke’s head, “Clark, when did you get a little man?”

Clark smiled, lifting the hat from Luke’s head until his eyes were visible, “Luke, how old are you?”

Luke was surprised at first, but then he quickly held up three fingers, “I’m _free!”_

Clark nodded, “He’s three.”

“I’m almos' four, though. Mum says I’m growing really big!”

Hershel found himself smiling, lifting his hand to gently shake Luke's fist between his thumb and forefinger, "Don't worry, Clark. I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

Clark gave a satisfied nod, "I thought you'd take to him." Luke was beginning to push against his father, so Clark set him carefully on the ground, "Anyway, the excavation has already begun!" He gestured towards the other visitors to the site, "Shall we?"

***


	2. Chapter 2

Hershel's strange feeling of fear persisted. It wasn't quite like the pang in his chest he had when they first arrived, but it was as if something in the air itself was triggering his fight-or-flight response, despite there being no obvious danger. He had no idea what it could be, but he thought he should keep a sharp eye out just in case.

Randall had already knelt down beside Brenda to help her with the inscription she was trying to decipher. Randall put a hand to his chin, seemingly lost in thought, before swapping the place of two pieces with symbols on them. Brenda gave him a nod, scribbling in her notebook.

Hershel sat down beside his friend, "Randall, I think coming here might have been a bad idea."

"Huh?"

A few years ago, Randall might have scoffed at him for being so scared over what appeared to be nothing, but...

"Hey." Randall gave him a soft smile, placing a hand on Hershel's arm, "We'll be alright. Even if it turns out to be dangerous later down the road, we've always got each other. Right?"

Hershel met his gaze, but then both of them blushed and looked away.

"Yes, we do." Hershel cleared his throat, standing up to dust off his pants, "But honestly, don't you feel it? It's as if something here is pushing me back. I can't describe it. It's just...awful."

"If you don't feel safe, then we can leave this area." Randall jumped up, stretching his arms and then his back, "Good luck, Brenda!"

"Thank you!"

Hershel left the low elevation of the main excavation, but he still felt goosebumps all over his arms. Randall wiped his forehead, downing a gulp of water from one of the bottles in his backpack on a nearby picnic table.

"Ah!" Randall gave Hershel's arm a gentle punch, "So, are you feeling the excitement yet?"

Hershel rolled his eyes, "I certainly feel something, though I hesitate to call it anything positive."

"Pfft! Don't be like that, Hersh!" Randall wrapped an arm around him, "This is about discovery! And just look at it! This place is safer than..."

Randall stopped when he realized his face was close to Hershel's, who had in turn begun to shake. Randall stepped away from him, clearing his throat awkwardly.

_"Everyone! Over here!"_

Clark gathered everyone to the center of the site, surrounded by shovels, hats and layers of sparkling granite. Baby Luke was brushing the dust away from something he'd found in the dirt. He sneezed, falling backwards in bewilderment.

"Oh dear!" Brenda quickly brandished a handkerchief to brush the dirt off her son, "Clark, what's going on?"

"Look at what our boy found, sweetheart!" Clark lifted the object, "He's already adapting to the family business!"

"Clark, there is no family business." Brenda lifted Luke off the ground, balancing him on her hip, "So what is that, then?"

"I don't know." Clark blew the dust off it, "But it appears to be..."

Hershel's muscles seized up. It was a mask. It was silver in color, with a large frowning face, and on its forehead was a crescent moon shape.

It looked frighteningly familiar.

Randall paled, finally realizing how deep this might get, "Is that...?"

"The mask of order!?" Clark showed it off to everyone else, oblivious to Hershel and Randall's sudden discomfort, "This is incredible! One missing piece of the Azran puzzle!"

Hershel and Randall looked at each other, their expressions mirrored.

Now Hershel knew why he was so apprehensive about being here. He hadn't noticed until now, but the dig site, which had appeared to be a natural formation, had resisted shovels in a pattern. It was covered in so much dust that it was only barely noticeable, but now that Hershel saw it, he couldn't look away.

"Hey, Randall!" Clark had gone on talking like nothing was wrong, "You went to Akbadain, didn't you? Do you have the other mask?"

"Huh?" Randall didn't process his question at first, "Oh! Uh...no, I uh...left it behind..."

They hadn't gone into detail about what exactly had happened when they were in the ancient Azranian ruin. In truth, Randall had completely lost the mask. His only concern at the time was getting Hershel out alive. The mask of chaos could have completely disappeared for all he cared.

"Randall?" Clark's smile fell, the mask falling to his side, "Are you okay?"

Hershel put his arm in front of Randall, "Clark, hush."

He did, and in the absence of voices, the slight rumbling sound became more apparent.

Luke held tight to his mother's jacket, "Shaky...?"

"It's going to collapse!" Randall yanked Hershel's sleeve, "We have to get out before-!"

The ground crumbled beneath them, and they plummeted to the depths of the earth.

***

_"Hershel! Hershel, hey!"_

Hershel's muscles had seized up, his head spinning from dizziness. When he finally pried his eyes open, he was looking straight into Randall's jacket collar.

That feeling of cold fear shot up his spine, and he jumped away from his friend.

"Are you alright?" Randall used the rocky wall to shakily stand, "Clark? Brenda?"

Luke had begun to cry, so Brenda was holding him close and rocking him softly back and forth, "We're okay, I think. Are you okay?"

Randall knelt down to pick up his glasses, which were miraculously unbroken, "I think. Hersh?"

Hershel replaced his cap over his head, "How many of us fell down?"

Brenda held Luke's head in the crook of her shoulder, "Just the five of us? Hey! Is everyone okay up there?"

There was no reply. Hershel huffed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I hope they haven't simply run off on us."

"I don't think they would do that." Randall held up one finger, "Cover the little man's ears?"

Brenda held Luke's ears so his hearing was blocked.

Randall took a deep breath, cupping his hands around his mouth, "I SWEAR IN ALL MY TWENTY SEVEN YEARS ON THIS GOD-FORSAKEN EARTH, IF YOU WHIPPERSNAPPERS HAVE ABANDONED US THEN YOU'RE REALLY IN FOR A BELT-BEATING AFTERNOON OF REGRET!"

The three other adults burst into laughter, though it was short-lived as there was still no reply.

"Where on earth did _that_ come from?" Hershel eyed the sunlight coming from above.

"What can I say, Hersh?" Randall fiddled with his tie, "I'm an old man."

"You've been saying that nonstop since we were twenty two. Also, you didn't answer the question at all."

_"Randall?"_

Everyone looked up. Someone's voice had come from above.

Hershel squinted, "Claire!?"

_"Hershel!?"_ All that could be seen from this far away was the red rim of light around Claire's curly hair, _"What are you all doing down there!? Did the ground collapse!?"_

"Claire! Thank goodness you're still there!" Brenda adjusted Luke in her arms, "Can you get help!? Who else is with you!?"

_"Just Dimitri! We weren't supposed to come until later!"_ Claire's head briefly disappeared, presumably to talk to the others, "We can get help, but it will take at least a few hours to get here! Can you climb up!?"

"If it was just me, that would be easy!" Randall called up next, "But we have a baby down here too!"

_"Why do you have a baby down there!?"_

Clark and Brenda shared a glance. Luke resumed crying.

_"Okay, I'll go and get help as soon as I can! Be careful!"_ And with that, Claire disappeared, and the world above them was silent once more. Hershel's heart sank. Would they just be stuck there underground for another few hours?

Randall's head swivelled around, "Do you hear that?"

Hershel watched him approach the rock wall, put a contemplative hand to his chin, then he lifted his foot and kicked the wall. It easily caved, and behind it was a walkway over a massive cave system.

"We need to get out of here." Randall started down the path, "Follow me."

***


	3. Chapter 3

Hershel was obviously apprehensive about going into a strange cave, but Randall had already left, and it would do no good to just sit around doing nothing. Honestly, was he even surprised at this point?

"Randall, slow down." Hershel kept one hand on his cap as he descended down the path, "Do you even know where you're going?"

Randall didn't respond, but Hershel knew that he had heard him, because his ear twitched as he paused in his steps before continuing onward.

"Randall!" Hershel carefully stepped around Clark, "Randall, stop! Are you listening to me!?"

Randall suddenly turned, but he wasn't upset like Hershel had feared. No, he was clearly excited about something.

"Trust me, Hershel." Randall's hushed voice was reminiscent of a whispered secret at a sleepover, "That way down was no accident. Finding the mask of order was the test. Now, we need to simply follow the trail."

Hershel searched Randall for any lingering regret or unease, but his expression was open and earnest. His thick eyebrows had risen to his hairline, and his mouth was drawn up in a wide smile.

Hershel glared back at him, "You're not at all concerned that a baby fell down here with us?"

Randall dropped his smile, "What? No, Hersh of course I'm concerned, but it can't be helped now. We'll just be certain that we're extra careful, that's all. Luke will be alright. We don't need to let it crush our spirits."

As if right on cue, Luke struggled to get out of his mother's hold, "Mum! That rock is shiny!"

"Luke! Stop that!" Brenda turned him so his back was against her stomach, "Goodness, what has caught your eye so..."

They all saw it at the same time. Large crystals jutted out of the walls, glowing luminously like sharp fireflies. It lit their way very clearly, as it was brighter than moonlight.

"See?" Randall kicked at one of the crystals, and a sizeable chunk broke off. He stooped to pick it up, "Don't worry, it isn't radioactive, though it's chemical composition is just as fascinating. Come on. This will light our way."

Luke stopped struggling, apparently satisfied that the thing he had pointed out was acknowledged.

Clark sighed, "Would you like me to take him?"

Brenda shifted Luke in her hold to hand him over, "Yes, please."

***

The caves twisted and turned, multiple paths opening up and winding every which way. Luckily, the crystals only led down one path, so it was easy to navigate, but the longer they went, the more Hershel was reminded of Akbadain. It made his skin crawl even worse than before, to the point that he was rubbing his arms to try and level some of the goosebumps.

"Randall..." Hershel kept his voice quiet, as Luke had fallen asleep, "Where exactly are we going?"

"Don't worry, we're almost there."

_Right. It's a surprise._ "How much farther is it?"

Randall turned the next corner, "Riiight...here."

As the next room came into view, it struck them just how massive this area was. The ceiling was so high up that the light from the crystals didn't reach it, so a black void reached high up into the distance. The ground was treacherous as well, so they took their time heading deeper into the room.

Luke sneezed, snuggling closer to his father as he whimpered.

"Oh, Luke..." Brenda took off her jacket to wrap around Luke, "When did it get so cold?"

Randall continued to lead the way, broken crystal in hand, "I'm sorry about the cold. You can have my jacket too if it gets much colder."

Hershel stumbled over a block of ice in the rock, "Randall, as endearing as I find your archeological tunnel vision, I fail to see how..."

He stopped when they reached the far wall. From this close up, it was obvious that it was a giant ice wall, but that's not what made Hershel pause.

Encased within the ice was a young woman.

She was almost sickly pale and very thin, with dirty blonde hair that sat in the ice around her in waves. Her full-length pink dress had white ruffles along the hem and sleeves, and she also wore pink ballet flat shoes. Her eyes were closed, as if she was sleeping.

"Here she is." Randall put his hand on the ice, "This is Aurora, the messenger of the Azran."

_"This_ is Aurora!?" Clark knelt down to more securely wrap Brenda's jacket around Luke, who was shivering violently, "I didn't expect her to be so..."

"Young?" Randall put his foot up on the ice wall, "Well, the truth is that the Azranian texts don't specify her physical appearance. It just says that she will be encased in ice, and that she will have that stone on her forehead."

He was right. The girl, Aurora, had what looked like a necklace around her head like a crown, with a luminescent stone in the center of her forehead.

Hershel put a hand on the ice. It was cold to the touch, as he expected, but it was also dry. It didn't melt when it came into contact with his skin.

He continued to run a hand along the wall until his fingers grew red and numb, "Randall, what kind of ice is this?"

Randall smiled, then he reeled back and kicked the wall. It didn't even scratch, "It's not ice at all. I mean, we are surrounded by ice, but nothing that surrounds that girl is ice. We can't break it through conventional means, we're going to have to solve its puzzle."

Hershel scrutinized the wall, "Randall, I don't see any-!"

Randall lifted the crystal he'd been carrying, then he took a few steps back, and threw it as hard as he could into the air. The light flew up along the ice wall, creating a beacon of light until a loud metallic sound reverberated through the air. The crystal had cracked into several tiny pieces, which fell down around them like hail.

"Randall!" Brenda covered Luke's head from the onslaught, "What on Earth are you doing!? Are you out of your mind!?"

"Relax, that crystal isn't heavy enough to hurt a fly, let alone a baby." Randall lifted his index finger, "But did you hear that? There's a mechanism in this wall that will let us break it."

Hershel gripped one of the crystals along the ground, yanking on it until it broke off, "Brenda, Clark. Stand back a bit."

They did. Hershel scrutinized the wall where the light didn't reach, but it was simply too dark to see. He took his cap in his left hand, planted his right foot behind him, and sharply tossed the crystal into the air. It slowed down at the height of its ascent, allowing Hershel to trace the light and see into the darkness. Near the top of the wall, a piece of metal could be seen jutting out of the ice. It had the general shape of a tree root, and it was gold and bronze in color, but the crystal came back down too quickly to make out any other details.

Hershel caught the crystal with both hands, but it shattered as soon as it touched him.

"Is that it?" Hershel dusted his hands off on his vest, "Randall, what is that?"

"What does it look like, Hersh?" Randall took another crystal in his hand, "Don't you get it? See if you can figure it out!"

"How do you know so much about this place?" Clark eyed the ice wall warily, "I've been studying these texts for months, but there was no mention of a secret ice wall."

Randall's only reply to that was a mischievous grin, "Hershel, would you like to do the honors?"

Hershel looked around the massive cavern for anything he could use. Aside from the crystals and rocks, the wall of ice was lined with metal spokes that ran the perimeter of the cavern. They looked almost like combination locks, split into four quarters like a pie chart.

Hershel carefully made his way to one of the locks near the right corner of the ice. He twisted it once, and a few of the other locks rotated with subtle squeaking and clanking sounds.

"Aha." Seeing a puzzle was always rejuvenating to him, "Let's see here..."

***


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, the switches needed to be calibrated so that it made a perfect grid of squares between each one, with no rectangles, and no lines that overlapped each other. When the last switch was twisted into place, Hershel stepped back to admire his work.

Randall threw one last crystal up to get a view of the root-shaped metal piece, "Perfect! Everything is in order! Now we just have to wait."

They only sat in silence for a few seconds, as all of a sudden, the wall cracked in the shape of the grid of squares. The root at the top of the wall began to glow, lighting up a whole row of roots along the ice. The girl's forehead gem began to glow as well, until the whole cavern was alight with color like the northern lights.

Finally, Aurora was free. She slumped over, and Hershel just caught her before she hit the ground.

Despite the cold that had just washed over them, Aurora's skin had a clear warmth to it. Her cheeks and nose were only slightly pink. Her breaths were shallow but calm, and her pulse was only barely discernible.

Randall helped Hershel lay her down, "Now we just need to wait for her to wake up."

Brenda looked into the depths of the cavern beyond where the wall of ice used to be, "How long will that take?"

Randall put his hand on Aurora's forehead, "I don't know. We'd better not stay here for too long, but if we can avoid jostling her too much, then that would be ideal."

Luke began to struggle again, "Dad, down! _down!"_

"I don't think so, Luke." Clark dropped to rest Luke on his knee, "If you step on this floor, you will freeze!"

"DOWN!" Luke went limp, "I WANT DOWN!"

"Luke, no!" Brenda reached for him.

Luke slipped out of his parents' grasp, crawling away from them and toward Randall.

"Whoa." Randall watched him plop down beside Aurora, "That is one intense three-year-old."

"'m almos' four, 'member?" Luke poked Aurora's cheek, "Hello? Are you in there?"

Aurora's eyes fluttered open, revealing unfocused, pale-blue irises. They were almost haunted somehow, as if she had been on a long journey.

"Uhh...?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes, "Hm? Where...?"

Randall smiled softly at her, "You're the messenger to the Azran, aren't you? It's so nice to meet you at last."

Aurora bit her lip, then she slowly nodded, "Yes...yes, that's right. My name is Aurora. I'm sorry, but my head is fuzzy right now. Give me a moment..."

"Of course." Randall stood up, offering his hand, "Can you stand?"

Aurora eyed his hand, then she cautiously reached out with her own.

"There you go." Randall pulled her to her feet, holding his other arm out when she wobbled, "You've been in here for a long time. Let's get you out of here and into a proper bed."

Hershel was delighted. It didn't surprise him of course, but it nonetheless charmed him that Randall was putting Aurora's well-being over his own thirst for knowledge. It reminded him of the time...

Hershel shivered. No, it wasn't like that anymore. He didn't need to think about it.

"Aurora, up!"

"Alright, Luke. That's enough." Clark lifted him up, "We appreciate your concern, but please don't force us to drop you. It's very dangerous."

Luke stuck his tongue out, "What does 'concern' mean?"

"It means you care about someone's safety." Brenda replaced the jacket that had fallen off him, "Now try not to squirm too much, okay? We will be out of here in no time."

***

It only got more treacherous from there. Aurora was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open, so Randall carried her with one arm over his shoulder. The caverns continued until they widened up again, leading down into a tall room with a drop off. It was a steep drop, too. Pitch black, and with no echo.

Clark held Luke closer, "Please be careful, Randall."

Randall shifted Aurora in his grip, "Aurora, can you hold yourself now?"

She blinked, pushing herself into an upright position, "I think so, but I'm very dizzy."

"No worries. I'm here if you need me." Randall looked around, then he took Aurora's hand, "Let's rest. There's a wall over there you can lean against."

Aurora was out like a light. Randall bunched up his vest to give her a make-shift pillow on the rock, then he sat down beside her and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Brenda sat down next, after Clark set Luke on his feet to give his arms a break. Luke planted himself in front of his mother, "Snack!"

"Oh, are you hungry?" She checked her pockets, "I'm sorry, I have nothing on me."

"The little man is hungry?" Randall reached into his pocket, "I think I might have something..."

"Make sure it's not too crunchy or sugary. Also, no caffeine."

"Perfect." Randall tossed her a plastic container, "I brought some basic pudding with me. It should be easy on the little guy's stomach."

She swiftly caught it, "Thank you, Randall." She tore off the plastic spoon and peeled back the tab, "Okay, Luke. Open wide."

Luke obediently sat back with a wide smile, "Ahh!"

Brenda lifted the spoon high into the air, "Prepare for take-off! It's going up! It's going around and around!"

Luke giggled, "Through the tunnel!"

"It's coming!" Brenda brought the spoon down to Luke's mouth, _"Through the tunnel!"_

Luke eagerly ate the spoonful of pudding, then he clapped his hands, "Yay!"

"Whew." Brenda prepared another spoonful of pudding, "Usually when I do that, he bites the spoon."

It took another hour or so for Aurora to wake up. She lifted Randall's jacket as she sat up, staring at it as if lost in thought.

She caught his eye, "Is this yours?"

Randall nodded, accepting it back from her, "Thank you. How did you sleep?"

Aurora brushed her hair back, "Not well, but I think I'll be okay until we're out of here."

"Alright." Randall helped her stand, "Come on, then. This place is a lot bigger than I thought."

Aurora was able to keep her balance a lot better this time, but Randall and Hershel still stood on either side of her in case she stumbled.

Although, they had only taken a few steps before the cavern began to rumble.

Aurora froze in her tracks, her eyes glowing with her distress, "Oh no..."

Hershel backed up, "A cave in?"

"GET BACK!" Randall's foot slipped on the rock, "AAHHH!"

"RANDALL!" Hershel grabbed his arm, "Be careful!"

Randall pushed Aurora forward, "We have to get out of here before-!"

A chunk of rock broke off the ceiling of the cave, slamming into their walkway, separating them into smaller groups and making a huge portion of the walkway crumble.

Randall forced himself to stand once the tremors had stopped, hoisting Hershel to his feet, "Hersh, get up, _please_ get up..." Hershel leaned on him as he stood, "Clark! Brenda! Is everyone alright!?"

A baby's cry was heard on the other side of the rock, which made Randall sigh in relief, before Brenda replied, "Randall? Are Hershel and Aurora with you?"

"You don't have Aurora!?" Randall set Hershel upright before he scanned the ravine for anywhere she may have fallen, "Aurora! Where are you!? Please answer!"

"I'm right here!"

Her voice came from an area that had just opened up on the opposite wall of the cavern. How she got there was a mystery, but Randall was just happy to see her safe, "Can you get back from there?"

"It's okay, this cave goes around closer to the exit! Brenda and Clark? You go around that way! I'll meet you there!"

Aurora disappeared, and Luke's cries receded into the distance. Randall and Hershel were alone.

Hershel dusted himself off, "Randall, what happened?"

Randall held his arms out, praying that the rock beneath them didn't completely give way, "Freeing Aurora must have weakened the layers of rock above us. The Azran must not have expected her to be stuck here for so long. We're on a very precarious surface right now, so whatever you do, don't-!"

The cavern gave one more massive rumble, and the ground beneath Hershel gave way.

"-FALL!"

***


	5. Chapter 5

Randall didn't think, he just reacted. His left arm shot out, grabbing Hershel's right arm as he fell. The wind was knocked out of him when his chest hit the rock, but he held on. He held on as tight as he could.

Hershel didn't cry out, he didn't gasp, he hardly even blinked, but once he had stopped falling and came back to his senses, he held onto Randall with equal ferocity.

"Um, wow, heheheh!" Randall's pupils shrunk even as he gave a shaky smile, "This is familiar, isn't it, Hersh?"

Hershel blinked up at him, his eyes watering from the freezing-cold air, "Randall..."

Their hold slipped. Their hands were too sweaty to keep a proper grip on each other. The cavern settled, but Randall was struggling. His arms shook uncontrollably. His fingers were numb.

"I will not..." Randall tried to pull his friend up without slipping on the rockface, "I will _not_ let you fall! I will _not! I refuse!"_

Hershel reached for the cliff with his other arm, but it was too slippery to hold on. Much of the rock still had ice on it. He tried again, digging his hand into the rock, not caring if he cut his skin or broke his nails, but it would always make him slip even further down.

"Hershel..." Randall tried to smile, but tears were cascading down his face, "Don't let go. Don't you dare let go. Don't-!"

Randall slid across the ice. Hershel realized in a cold shock that if he didn't let go, Randall would fall down with him.

He didn't think.

He let go.

"NOOO!" Randall tried to reach out, but Hershel had already been swallowed by the darkness. He scrambled back up onto the rockface, hitting his head against the ground, trying in a frantic frenzy to force the haunting image from his brain.

_I dropped him._

Randall ran to more stable ground before he could tumble to his death. He fell onto his back, staring up at the darkness of the cavern.

There were a few more rumbles in the earth, but the cave in was finished. It was so quiet that Randall's ears were ringing. His hands were clammy and sweaty, the back of his neck prickling uncomfortably. He was cold, too. Really cold. He feared if he went into shock, he would die from that instead.

His vision suddenly came into focus again when Clark's head came into view.

Luke poked his cheek, "Landall?"

Randall took a sharp breath of air. His hands and feet were tingling.

“Oh my!” Brenda helped him sit up, very slowly, “Randall, are you alright!? Where’s Hershel!?”

Randall choked out a sob. Now that the danger had passed, his heart _really hurt._

“Randall...” Clark took his ice-cold hands, “Oh no...Hershel is...?”

Randall’s lip quivered. He folded in on himself, curled into a ball, hugging his knees...

_“I dropped him...”_ Randall’s chest gave a violent heave, _“I dropped Hersh into the ravine...”_

Clark and Brenda shared a short look before Brenda buried her face in her hands.

“Mum...” Luke whimpered, “Mum, what happened!? Hechel is coming back, right? Mum?”

Clark gently lifted Luke into his arms, “We’ll look for him...”

All of them stayed there, soaking in the darkness and the silence. Luke held his father tight in recognition of his distress, while Brenda lay a gentle hand on Randall’s shoulder as he cried. She tried to resist the dark cloud over herself, but it wasn’t long before her own tears blurred her vision.

_“I thought we were alright...”_ Randall wiped his eyes, _“I told him I would protect him...”_

Clark knelt in front of him, “Randall, we can’t stay here. We still need to find Aurora.”

His voice shook, too. Randall looked up at him through his eyelashes.

“Come on.” Clark shakily stood, “Let’s go.”

Where Randall had once led them along the path himself, he now lagged behind, taking a long look down into the abyss before taking slow steps away, his head down and his arms folded.

He would give up any archeological treasure, if only he had been strong enough to hold on.

***

A glass bottle sharply hit the rocks below. The bubbling liquid inside fizzled up with carbonation, and one lone person sat against the wall, their breath fogging up in the air as their cheeks flushed red.

_“Uuugghhhh...”_ Descole hiccuped, their mask falling askew, “It was all coming down to this, ey old man? Ha!”

They shivered, their coat and cloak not nearly thick enough to stave off the cold, but they didn’t mind. It was a nice change of pace from the chaos of war, both with themself and with their enemy.

They blinked when they thought they saw movement. It was hard to tell since it was so far away, but it was definitely there. They thought they were going crazy, but they could’ve sworn that it was...human-shaped?

“Feh.” Descole scoffed, “What an idiot.”

As the figure came closer, they were able to make out more details. A cylindrical-shaped head, an orange vest, a mop of brown hair...

They realized it nearly too late, “OH MY GOD I KNOW THAT GUY!”

They quickly flourished their cap around them, leaping into the air and jumping up the cavern into the darkness. They fell down just in time to grab Hershel, slowing their descent enough that nobody's bones were broken.

The two of them hit the ground rather ungracefully.

Hershel gasped, reorienting himself in this brighter edge of the cavern. His breathing slowed, until he looked up in bewilderment, “I’m...alive?” he patted down his vest, smoothing out the wrinkles, “I’m alive! Hahahaha!” He was careful as he stood, “Randall! _Randall, I’m alive!”_

There was no reply, aside from his own echo.

“Don’ bother.” Descole returned to their lounging position against the wall, “You’re too far away.”

“Desco-!” Hershel coughed, “Descole!? What on Earth are _you_ doing here!?”

“Dun ask. It’s too much.”

Hershel took a step closer, “Are you drunk?”

“Uhh...no?” they slumped, “Why you ask?”

Hershel covered his nose, “Well, you smell like alcohol for one.” he gazed back up into the abyss above him, “How far did I fall?”

“Oh, far.” Descole drained the last of his bottle, “If you came from the path up there, you’re gonna need to take a massive detour to get back up.”

“Ugh! I don’t have time for this!” Hershel looked around for any exit, but there were only more crystals, “Are you going to help me get out of here?”

“And why in the world would I do that?"

"Because if you refuse, then your _brother_ will be stuck down here forever." Hershel found where his hat had fallen, replacing it more aggressively than he needed to, "Besides, do you really want me to harass you until you cave?"

Descole threw the empty bottle at the rock as they stood up, and it shattered against the rock, "Fine. Follow me."

***


	6. Chapter 6

"Randall! Don't fall behind!"

Randall snapped himself out of his trance, wiping fresh tears from his face. In truth, he simply couldn't keep up the pace of the other two, because his chest was too constricted to allow him to breathe. He didn't like being aware, because it was all too easy to fall backwards into his grief. Instead, his consciousness floated outwards, beyond the confines of the cavern, far off into a distant galaxy, leaving his body moving stiffly on autopilot. The pain still throbbed, a constant buzzing in the back of his head, but it was easier to ignore when he simply wasn't there.

Ah, to be aimless. To be abstract. To be ornate.

"There you are!" Aurora came around the corner, "I was concerned I had it all wrong."

"It's good that you didn't." Clark had taken his turn holding Luke, "Listen, Randall says that Hershel fell off the cliff. We need to get up there and alert the rescue team."

It didn't make any sense. Why go after someone who's as good as dead? But Randall remembered that if Hershel really had... _died_...then he would have left a body behind that might be needed to certify his death. He didn't want to think about it, so he didn't. The group had stopped to talk, so Randall dragged his feet to where they were and then stood still, his arms around himself as he stared at the ground. He was hearing their voices, but he didn't process anything they were saying, at least until Brenda shook his shoulders.

_"Randall!"_

Randall's gaze snapped up at her, coming into focus as he remembered where he was, where he was going...

And what he had lost.

He gasped, grabbing his jacket over his heart and squeezing until the fabric pulled taut against his skin.

"Randall, listen to me." Brenda let her demeanour soften looking at him, "I know you just lost your best friend, but you need to focus. You can grieve once we get to the surface."

He knew she was just being pragmatic, but all it did was make him angry.

"Please." Brenda tugged on his arm, "Let's go. We can't lose anyone else."

Randall bit his lip. He didn't want to focus. Focusing meant remembering, and remembering meant more pain.

"I ruined everything."

It was said so matter-of-factly. Just words. Words were easy, because they had no inherent meaning.

"We were an item, you know. Him and I. He's been there for me ages and ages. We don't talk about why we lost it, but it was there. Before I ruined it."

He didn't want to think about, but losing Hersh was making him remember all the good memories they had, once.

"Randall, what are you talking about!?" Brenda poked his chest, "You're not making any sense. What do you mean you were an item!?"

"I LOVE HIM!!!"

Oops. He hadn't meant to say that aloud. He snapped his mouth shut, gazing over the faces of his beloved friends. They were simply staring at him, seemingly connecting the pieces in their heads. Oh well, they hadn't reacted badly yet, and Hershel was dead anyway, so what was the point in keeping it secret any longer?

"I still love him." Randall watched his tears turn to frost on the ground, "I've tried dating other people, but none of them felt right to me. Hersh and I just click so well. He's so smart and kind, I love his smile, I love his eyes, he's just so special to me and now he's gone forever."

He had never felt grief like this for another person. Longing yes, fear and concern of course, but grief wasn't like that.

It was like a hole had opened up in his heart, and the area that had been drilled out was aching for what used to be there. It was like he loved a void. It was so cold and lonely. It was emotional torture.

"I love him so much." Randall sobbed heavily, finally feeling the full weight of that grief on his shoulders, _"I love him."_

Aurora was the first to speak, "I'm so sorry. Losing someone like that...it can't be easy."

Clark and Brenda glanced at each other as Aurora approached Randall, who was trying unsuccessfully to wipe his tears away.

"Have..." Randall sniffed, "Have you ever lost someone, Aurora?"

Aurora shook her head, "Not like this. However, I do know what loss feels like, as the civilization I once knew is now gone. If it helps, I can extend my hand in compassion, if that's what you require."

Randall looked at her, then he looked at the ground. For a moment, his sniffling was all that could be heard.

"No." Randall forced his spine to straighten, "I have to finish this. He would have wanted me to. Aurora, lead me to the next puzzle."

She offered a smile, "Ah. That's why you're here, isn't it? Follow me."

Randall took the lead again _(though perhaps less vigorously)_ beside her, leaving the unpleasant conversation behind.

***


	7. Chapter 7

Hershel was stifled. Wall after wall of countless jagged edges. Obsidian and graphite jutted out at odd angles, threatening to tear at his clothing or skin if he got too close.

He gasped as he just dodged a stalactite in his path as he walked, "Descole, where on Earth are you taking me!?"

He also found it unnerving that his echoing voice resonated so hauntingly throughout the cavern.

"Out." They replied without turning, "I like to come here to be alone, so nothing gets through easily."

 _Even more unnerving,_ "Is it really that difficult to find hiding places?"

He didn't get a reply, though Descole's demeanor shifted ever so slightly. Maybe he recognized it because he did the same: Hershel didn't often show his anger. Instead, his jaw would set, his shoulders would stiffen. He didn't like to show anger, because it would often get angry replies from others, and that never ended well.

Still, he thought he had simply read too deep into it, until Descole began to speak once again.

"I was never safe." They continued walking, "It didn't matter how far I ran, _they_ would always find me again."

Hershel shivered as he hurried to catch up, "What are you talking about? Who?"

Descole paused mid-step, just long enough to take their hat, mask, and cape off. Descole had become Desmond.

"Who do you think?" Desmond buttoned his jacket all the way up to his shirt collar, "Targent. I told you a bit about them when I rescued you from asylum. They are the same group that kidnapped our parents."

_Oh yeah._

"So you tried to hide from them?" Hershel stumbled on the uneven ground. He adjusted his hat, "What happened?"

He felt bad taking advantage of Desmond while he was drunk, but he didn't usually talk about his past throughout the years he had known him, and Hershel was immensely curious about what could have happened.

Desmond audibly swallowed, "It's a long story. You see, I once had a sweetheart. He was clever and resourceful like me, but he was also soft-hearted. Curious. Extroverted. He made me feel like I didn't need to destroy Targent anymore."

 _He._ Hershel felt that familiar skin-crawling feeling, but somehow, it just made him feel tired this time.

"But they took him away from me too." Desmond shook with visible anger. Drunk Desmond apparently had no reservations about sharing his secrets, "He was attacked on his way home from work. He died in hospital the next day. I'll never get the image of his beaten body out of my head."

The cavern shook just then. Desmond rose an arm to protect Hershel, but it stopped as soon as it had started.

When he had determined there was no danger, he continued, "I have a new sweetheart now. I want to marry her, but if I get too close, I risk losing her too, and I couldn't handle that a second time. It's incredible how different she is from my first love, and yet I still love her so much."

Hershel reached for Desmond's sleeve, "Desmond, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Desmond snatched his arm away, "I don't want your pity." he began to climb a natural stone staircase up one of the caves, "But do you see why I must destroy Targent now?"

Hershel sighed, turning Desmond to face himself on one of the stone slabs, "I do understand, but you must be careful. Don't lose yourself in an act of destruction, or you may forget what it is you're fighting for."

Desmond looked away from him, staring at the ground in his peculiar way.

"Thank you, Hershel." He fiddled with his tie before turning to continue his climb, "Now come on. We must be getting close to where you fell."

That was a relief. Hershel made a mental note to wear better shoes next time he left the house.

***

Randall arrived at the next puzzle before he'd had a chance for his thoughts to catch up. The tunnel had partially caved in, so the puzzle was damaged, though still intact enough to solve. He was hardly looking at it, though. He shivered as he hugged himself tightly, the warmth from his body easily escaping into the air through his shirt.

"Randall." Aurora put her hands on his shoulders, and he instantly felt warmer. Was she actually magic? "Why are you dressed like this down here? You could get hypothermia this way."

Randall rubbed his hands, "Let me guess...that entrance to the cavern wasn't supposed to collapse."

Aurora gasped, "It collapsed!? Oh dear, How long have I been asleep!?"

Clark shifted a sleeping Luke in his arms, "A little over one million years, give or take."

"Oh. _Oh my..."_

Randall brushed her hands off of him, and the cold quickly seeped back into his skin, "Whatever you're doing, I want you to stop. I like the cold."

Aurora dropped her hands sadly, "But you could freeze."

Randall ignored her, passing Clark and Brenda to face the puzzle. It was one with a boat; One that would take them across the underground river.

"Aurora." Clark stroked Luke's cheek, "If you can warm people up, then can you hold Luke for me? I don't want him to freeze."

"Oh, yes. Of course." Aurora gingerly took him in her arms, "Ah. I've never held a baby before. If either of you are cold, you can put your hands on my shoulders. It will transfer to you."

"Fascinating." Clark touched her sleeve and marvelled at the warmth, "I wonder how that could be possible..."

Randall put the pieces of the puzzle in place, barely giving them a second glance, "Let's go, and hope nobody falls in the river."

In that moment though, another tremor hit, but it didn't feel like a normal tremor. It was more like...

Randall lifted his head, "There are other people here."

Brenda had taken Aurora's other shoulder, "You don't think it's the rescue team...?"

"The cavern wouldn't be shaking like this if that were the case." Randall took each oar on the boat, "Let's go. I'll lead the way."

Randall stayed in the front of the boat while the others huddled by Aurora. Randall heaved his arms to row them across the river. Rafters and more crystals stuck to the walls on all sides of them. The cold spray of water made Randall's arms stiff. He kept trying to row as if it didn't bother him, but he was slowly growing weaker as he got colder.

He didn't notice it at first, but warmth slowly returned to his fingertips. Confused, his focus shifted to Aurora, who had her foot over his shoe.

The boat lurched as it made it to the other side of the river, and Randall stood up, "Aurora."

She took her foot back, "Sorry."

He grabbed the rock on the other side of the river, holding the boat steady so his companions could climb out. The rumbling came back, but this time, it was a lot more intense. It was getting closer and louder...

Randall led the group away from the water, "Come on, get behind me!"

A massive drilled hole appeared above them, and the sudden sunlight blinded them as they covered their eyes.

"Who is that!?" Clark took Luke back, as the noise made him cry.

Randall pushed everyone back before they could be hit by flying debris. The hole widened, breaking ice and crystals as it went down and causing a sweeping of hot sand to come cascading over them.

Aurora jumped in front, raising her arms and creating a bright blue force feild to stop the sand from burying them. After the dust had settled in the cavern, she dropped it, and everyone was in the sand up to their knees until it drained away into the river.

Randall coughed, _"Ugh! I hate sand!"_

"There she is!" a familiar voice came from above, "Get her!"

Randall looked up, using one hand to block the sun from getting in his eyes. The newcomer was a man with a white bushy beard, sunglasses, and a blue suit. He stepped out of the drilling machine that had tumbled down into the now-open cavern before Randall realized why he was familiar.

"You're that Bronev guy!" Randall said, "The one Descole is always fighting!"

More men in suits surrounded the group, pointing guns at them, and Aurora put her force field back up.

"Give us the girl, Randall." Bronev brushed the sand off his suit, "Or I will be forced to take her from you."

Randall's mind was reeling, "You think I would trust _you!?_ How do I know you wouldn't hurt her!? The answer is no!"

Aurora had her arms above her head, her hair flowing in some invisible breeze as sparkling lights surrounded her body, "Don't worry. My barrier will hold."

"But for how long?" Bronev kicked the barrier, and it did shimmer, but it didn't bend, "We can simply sit here if you'd like."

"Leave her alone!" Randall hit his fists against the barrier, "How dare you collapse this cavern just so you could get here faster!? You didn't even bother to solve the puzzle that was keeping her trapped here! Were you just an idiot, or did you want someone else to do your dirty work!?"

He was in pain. His face was completely flushed with his anger. He was shaking uncontrollably, spitting as he shouted. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this out of control of himself, like a child throwing a temper tantrum, except he was almost 30 years old. Why was he acting like this? He had never...

He fell to his knees. He had managed to forget about it. It was only a dull ache for a few minutes, but now it was piling on top of him again. His shoulders were heavy, and his chest was tight. He pushed his fists into his eyes until colorful spots danced across his vision. Breathing was suddenly so hard. Why did it have to hurt so much?

Bronev had dropped both his arms, "What's gotten into you, boy? That cavern can't have been that scary! Snap out of it!"

_"Hershel! Randall!"_

Claire's voice from across the desert. Bronev saw no way to get out of this situation, so he waved his arm and shouted, "I'll be back! When I do, give me the girl!"

Randall didn't look up until there was a whole crowd of people surrounding him, and even then, he did so hesitantly. He could see why Bronev had fled; There were police vehicles and ambulances at the site, far enough that they were on the dirt road and not near the cave in.

A paramedic knelt down in front of him, "Are you alright?"

Randall was angry. He was sad. He was scared. He was depressed. He was heavy. He was all of these things and more, emotions piling on top of him until the pain was overwhelming, like a knife twisted in his gut.

Instead of answering, he simply held his head in his hands, and he cried.

***


	8. Chapter 8

"Come on!" Hershel kicked the wall so a few crystals cracked and fell off, "How much farther is it!?"

"If you are so eager to get out, then why did you come here in the first place?"

Hershel hit his forehead with his fist in frustration, "I don't know, Desmond. Why are you drinking whiskey at the bottom of an old icy cavern all by yourself in the middle of nowhere!?"

"Because Bronev would find me in any other place!" Desmond scoffed, his arms crossed, "Haven't I explained this already!?"

He had. About fourteen thousand times. Desmond was not clever when he was drunk, nor was he pleasant for that matter. Hopefully he had sobered up a bit by now.

"I don't understand." Hershel ducked inside a particularly narrow tunnel, "Drinking in large quantities is dangerous! You are a scholar, are you not? Why would you risk permanent liver damage?"

"I feel better this way." Desmond hiccuped, "You shut your mouth and don't tell me what to do!"

"I give up." Hershel massaged his temples, "Of all the people to have saved my life twice, _why_ did it have to be you?"

Hershel flinched when the sun suddenly crossed his vision. He quickly climbed out of the cavern to let the sun warm his face, shaking off the rest of his shivers.

"Finally!" Hershel emerged from the underground cavern, "Now, do you know where the dig site is?"

"There's a dig site here?" Desmond tripped, but he didn't fall, "Where?"

Hershel stared off into the distance, his brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Fine. I will find it by myself. Good luck getting home in your state."

Desmond didn't respond until Hershel was twenty feet away, "What?"

Hershel had guessed that he and his friends couldn't have walked far from the original site, and he was right. He only had to look around a few minutes before he found it. The site was not as active as it would be with a rescue team involved, which struck him as odd.

He called out to his friend, "Claire!"

Claire's hands covered her mouth, "Hershel!" she ran to him, grabbing him in a hug, "Randall said you had died!"

Hershel held her close, "I almost did. I came close."

The scene unfolded around him. Aurora was holding Luke while Clark and Brenda spoke in hushed tones. The dust had yet to settle. A massive cavern had opened up several feet away, making sunlight spill into the cave.

"Hershel!" Dimitri ran to him, "You're alive!"

"Dimitri." Hershel kept looking around, nervously fiddling with his neckerchief, "Where's Randall?"

Dimitri and Claire looked at each other. They didn't respond right away, and it made him uneasy.

"The paramedics took him away." Claire was pale as she fiddled with her hair, "I tried to talk to him, but he was completely out of it!"

"What?" Hershel found himself growing angry again, "What are you talking about? Where is he?"

"He's at the hospital, the new one just outside London." Dimitri explained nervously, "They told him he was insane! I mean, I understand _sort of,_ but I didn't hear everything he was saying, but they told him..."

"A lobotomy!" Claire blurted out, "They told him that he should have a lobotomy!"

Fear was a curious thing, especially when it hits you all at once. You could be feeling something, anything else at the time, but that one detail slips and your whole world is flipped upside down. Nothing feels quite right anymore, and that feeling of fear doesn't go away until you get rid of the problem. Your heart constricts, falling into your stomach like an indigestible stone, and you suddenly feel like tomorrow doesn't exist anymore.

Hershel wasn't stupid.

He knew what a lobotomy was.

_"They can't..."_ Hershel found his hands shaking, "We have to get him out!"

"But how do we do that!?" Clark had taken his son back from Aurora, "This is a new hospital with new technology! There's no way we can both get inside and leave with Randall!"

"But we have to!" Hershel ran to his car, "If we don't, then he will be lost to us forever!"

If they lobotomized him, if they cut parts of his brain off from the rest, then everything about Randall from his passion and excitability to his focus, determination, wit, skill, even his capacity for empathy, would all be completely erased. They would never know him as himself, just a hollowed-out, empty husk of a human that would need outside care for the rest of its life. He would be worse than dead.

He would be alive, but only in the most basic way.

"Let's go!" Hershel started his car, "We're going there! _Now!"_

The car peeled down the road, and nothing could have torn Hershel's attention from his task, not even Luke's screams of protest.

***

Randall lay in the hospital bed with nothing but that constant throbbing pain. Everything that had happened to him after Bronev appeared was a blur. He remembered something that the paramedic said about a new type of treatment for mental illness, mandatory given his condition.

He rested a tired arm over his forehead. _What is my condition?_

He knew of course how he had acted after his rescue. He was drowning in his grief, and lashing out is often how he coped with his own suffering. But still, even if he seemed insane, they shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, right?

He didn't remember what he had said. He was just so angry and upset that he couldn't be bothered to keep everything secret anymore. He mentioned that he and Henry had once stolen a case of beer from the cellar when they were twelve, he talked about that time he had fought Alphonse for attempting to smash Henry's toy robot, he even admitted that he once pushed someone down a waterfall, though it wasn't a long fall and he had been cripplingly ashamed for it ever since. He must be forgetting something, because that feeling wouldn't leave, but what was it?

His eyes flew open. _I am such an idiot._

What had made him forget? The injustice of it? The fallout? The fact that he'd had to stay silent for so long? What kind of mess had he gotten himself into?

Randall moved to sit up, but once he had, he stopped.

Hershel was dead.

Randall knew what would become of him after the surgery. He would lose his ability to feel. To emote. His very humanity would disappear.

He might even forget.

He still wanted to get out of there, but he didn't feel like he could. He didn't feel it would be worth it. He had other friends besides Hershel, he had family who loved him, he had a good job and a good life. There's no reason he would want to lose any of that.

And yet...he was still stuck. What was he going to do?

"Alright, Mister Ascot." a man in a white lab coat entered the room, "Let's get started."

A band of nurses blocked the door from the outside as the doctor strapped Randall to the table. He tried to fight back, but something was just making him so tired.

The doctor lifted an ice pick, "Don't worry. This will only hurt a bit."

"What?" Randall pulled against his restraints, "Don't I get anesthesia?"

The cold look in that doctor's eyes answered his question.

"Hey! That's not fair! You can't-!"

The doctor roughly pushed his forehead back, "This is for your own good, sir. Please, just try not to squirm too much."

The pick was above his eye, so close, ready to stab through his tear duct and into his brain. The doctor held one of his eyelids open, lining up the pick with practiced ease, and though Randall knew what was about to happen, the pain he would endure, the long road to partial recovery, he still couldn't find the strength to fight back-!

A crash came from outside the room, and the double doors flew wide open.

"RANDALL!"

Randall looked towards the voice.

There he was. Hershel Layton. In just one fraction of one second, Randall caught his eye. Randall stared in utter disbelief. He had seen Hershel fall into the deepest and darkest pits of the cavern, and yet here we was. Hershel's eyes were wide open in horror, his mouth opening to shout.

He truly couldn't believe it.

Hershel was alive.

Hershel was _here._

His chest fluttered with that warmth he was so familiar with. The emotional flurry at seeing him brought tears to his eyes. He knew full well that he could just be seeing things, but somehow, he didn't care. Simply feeling this kind of deep emotion...

He never wanted to lose that. Even if it hurt.

Randall realized the strap on his foot was loose, so he slid out of it and kicked the doctor so the ice pick clattered to the floor.

"Randall!" Hershel took the strap off his left hand, and Randall punched the doctor when he tried to stand up again.

"You got him!?" Clark appeared at the door, "Good! Let's get out of here! Claire can't hold the door much longer!"

As soon as he was free, Randall grabbed Hershel in the biggest hug, tears cascading down his face.

_"You're alive..."_ Randall sobbed, _"You're here and you're real..."_

Hershel hesitantly hugged him back, "Randall, we can't stay. Let's get out of here."

***


	9. Chapter 9

Hershel was holding the steering wheel too tight. It was hard for him to swallow. He was feeling that familiar anxiety when Randall hugged him, but he also felt so relieved. No, not just relieved. It was like a weight was lifted so far off his shoulders that he'd become light enough to fly. For just one fraction of one moment, he only saw Randall. His flushed face and wide smile. His eyes that sparkled like diamonds when he got excited.

When he saw Randall on that operating table, he recognized the face he was giving him. His lip was quivering as if he'd been crying, but his mouth was drawn up in a shaky smile. The bags under his eyes became a little harder to see. It was like life and color had returned to his face.

It was a face that perfectly communicated a singular message.

_I missed you._

"Hershel."

He was broken from his musings by Randall's voice. They were on the road out of London to get away from the hospital, so there were no signs of civilization aside from some smaller towns that dotted the horizon.

"Hershel." Randall said louder, gripping the backrest of his seat, "Pull over."

Hershel shied away from Randall's touch, "What?"

"I said pull over. Stop the car." Randall huffed, "Please. I need to talk to you."

Hershel was nervous about how serious he sounded, but he complied, slowing down and parking in the dust on the side of the road.

Randall unbuckled his seatbelt as he got out, "Wait here, everyone."

He walked with Hershel until they were reasonably far enough to not be heard, then he took Hershel's shoulders and spun him to face him.

"I really should have asked you this sooner. That was entirely my mistake." Randall sighed, "What happened to us? Why did you suddenly not want to be a couple anymore?"

Hershel's gut was seized with a stab of fear, his voice coming out too quiet, _"What?"_

"It's just a question, Hersh." Randall took a step back, his hands raised in surrender, "Please. I want to understand. We don't have to be intimate anymore if that's what you want, but I just want to know why."

Hershel took a deep breath. He remembered the young boy who initially introduced himself with a laugh and a smile. The one who dragged him all over the place with dreams of grandeur, his pockets lined with old fossils and coins.

But Randall wasn't a young boy anymore. He was still the same person of course, just more cautious. More empathetic. More aware of his actions and the consequences that come with them. He was smarter, and more mature, which Hershel didn't often think about now that they didn't interact the same way, but he was showing it now by admitting his mistake, and asking for answers in a none-threatening way.

If he was going to be an adult about this, then so would Hershel, even if it scared him.

***

_"GRADUATION!"_

_Randall stumbled into the house, tripping over the last step before the door, "That wasn't so bad now, was it Hersh?"_

_Hershel groaned, "This is the worst. I'm not even drunk and I feel awful."_

_"Well, I guess now you know." Randall shrugged as he slumped on the couch, "You can be the designated driver from now on!"_

_"That's even worse." Hershel coughed into his sleeve as he closed the door and kicked his shoes off, "Do you know what it's like to be surrounded by drunk people when you're sober?"_

_"Good point I guess?" Randall's head was spinning, "I mean, I don't feel so bad, but maybe it's been wearing off before we left."_

_"You mean it started to wear off before we left." Hershel hung his hat and coat on the hatstand as he rolled his eyes, "If you're going to have a Master's degree, you might as well use proper English."_

_"Come on, dude. Even when I'm drunk?"_

_Hershel fell over the other couch, "That was exhausting. I hope we never do that again."_

_Randall got up from his couch to sit on the floor in front of Hershel, "And do what instead, work?"_

_"No. Have you heard of reading for fun?"_

_"Only if it's history."_

_"What about fiction? I haven't read a good novel in years."_

_"But why do that when you can have fuuun?"_

_Hershel eyed Randall curiously as he slumped against the armrest of the couch, his face close enough that Hershel could feel his breath._

_Hershel rose one eyebrow, "You don't need to leave the house to have fun."_

_Randall opened his mouth to reply, then he closed it, putting a hand to his chin._

_"Perhaps not." he got up on his knees to lean over Hershel, "But isn't it nice every once in a while?"_

_Hershel lifted one arm to reach around Randall's head, pulling him down gently until Randall met his lips. Randall rested his elbows on the couch, sitting up straighter to get a better angle. His hands trailed down to his partner's neck and shoulders, then his chest, slowly undoing each button on his shirt._

_Randall touched a cold hand to the exposed skin on Hershel's stomach, and his eyes flew open when a chilling thought occured to him._

__How far will this go? __

_Sensing his stiffness, Randall pulled back, "Hershel?"_

_Hershel pushed Randall away, quickly sitting up and pulling his shirt tighter around himself. His heart was pounding, his chest constricted until he couldn't breathe. The small mount of alcohol he'd consumed was now roiling in his stomach and burning his throat. He felt lightheaded, but not just from tiredness anymore._

_"Hershel!" Randall hit his forehead, "God, I'm such an idiot! I'm so sorry! Did I make you uncomfortable!?"_

_Hershel stood up, putting distance between the two of them. He grabbed his coat and hat again and hastily put on his shoes._

_"Hey! It's okay! I can stop!" Randall cautiously approached him, though he stumbled a bit because he was still drunk, "Please don't run away! It's late at night and I don't want you to be alone in the-!"_

_Hershel opened the door, grabbing his umbrella, just in case. He turned to Randall apologetically with only a single thought._

__I have to get away. __

_"I'm sorry. I just need to clear my head." Hershel stepped outside, "I'll be back in a few minutes."_

_Then the door closed, separating them and causing them both to wonder how it had happened._

***

Randall stared at the ground, not bothering to brush off the dust that had gathered on his pants in the breeze. Hershel had his arms crossed, his hat hiding his eyes from view as he also stared at the ground.

"Hershel..." Randall finally said, flexing his hands into fists, "Did I really scare you that much? I'm so sorry."

"No, it's..." Hershel scratched his head, "It wasn't you who scared me, it was simply the idea of...I don't know, being forced into when I didn't want to. I don't have a problem with sex if other people want it, but the idea of participating makes me feel ill."

Randall ran a hand through his hair, letting a breath out through his nose.

Hershel continued, "It wasn't fair to you to be in a relationship with someone who didn't want that kind of intimacy, so that's why I cut it off. I'm sorry I didn't properly explain myself before, I was just..."

Randall rested his head in his hand, running his fingers over his forehead until he could find a suitable reply.

"Hershel." Randall stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, "I don't care about that."

"You don't..." Hershel looked at him, seeing that his face reflected nothing but sincerity, "You don't care?"

"No. Do you think I was with you just for my own pleasure? I love you for _you._ I love you because you're _Hershel Layton,_ the kid who sat inside during lunch because he liked reading by himself, the boy who knocked some sense into me when I tripped in the creek and got another bruise, the man who saved my life at least _three times!_ You have qualities to you that will never all exist within the same person again! Nobody makes me laugh the way you do! Nobody makes me feel like the luckiest man alive every time you smile that special smile you reserve only for me!"

Hershel frowned as Randall's eyes misted over with unshed tears, "But-!"

"Be quiet, Hersh. I'm not finished." Randall hesitated, then he took Hershel's hand, squeezing it between his own, "I feel similarly to you. I mean, I like the idea of sex, I wouldn't say no if someone offered, but it's not a requirement for me to be happy. I could go the rest of my life without it and still feel like I haven't missed anything important, but I miss you. I don't want that kind of intimacy if you don't."

Hershel took a step closer, cupping Randall's cheek and running his thumb over his temple, "If you don't care then why did you offer?"

Randall leaned into the touch, "Well, it was partially because I was drunk, so that didn't help, but also because I figured if you didn't want it, you would have just said no. If I had known you would react so badly to it, I would never have tried it. That was so idiotic of me. I shouldn't have done that."

Randall placed a kiss on the palm of Hershel's hand, his eyes ghosted over with nostalgia.

"I guess that's all I can say, Hersh." Randall caught his gaze, "I miss you."

Hershel felt tears in his own eyes as he pulled Randall in for a hug, which he reciprocated gratefully.

"Please come back to me, Hersh." Randall cried into his shoulder, "I like being friends, but I miss what we had."

Hershel took a sharp breath of air, "I missed you too. I suppose I should have said something, but..."

"No, it was my fault." Randall leaned back slightly, "I should have asked. I should have just talked to you instead of letting everything go unsaid. I let you believe I wouldn't want you if I knew, and for that I am so sorry."

Hershel let his forehead rest against Randall's, just taking a second to breathe.

"If we're communicating clearly now..." Hershel smiled, "Would you like to kiss me?"

Randall laughed cheerfully, "I'm _so_ happy to hear you say that, Hersh. I would _love_ to kiss you."

Randall only had to close the short gap between them, but he was careful this time. He put one arm around Hershel's back under his arm, while the other rested on his cheek. Hershel broke the kiss to take a breath of air, and then he kissed him again, stronger this time, wrapping both arms around his shoulders to hold him closer. He let one hand rest on the back of Randall's head, feeling his hair between his fingers.

Randall gasped as he finally stepped back, his eyes still closed. He let his hand drift along Hershel's jawline before letting his arms fall back at his sides, though Hershel kept one hand on his head.

"I..." Randall shakily exhaled, "I forgot how much I really missed you..."

"Ah, I hope that was alright." Hershel looked away, "I haven't done this in a long time."

"No! That was perfect!" Randall spun in a circle excitedly, stopping on his heels a couple feet away, "So, you forgive me?"

Hershel laughed, and the sound was like music to Randall's ears, "It wasn't entirely your fault, but yes, I forgive you."

Randall eyed him knowingly, "You shouldn't."

"But I do."

Randall laughed again, then he laughed louder, "I'm sorry, I'm just so happy. Okay, let's go back to the car. We still have something to take care of."

***


	10. Chapter 10

Hershel had completely forgotten that Aurora was in the car with them. As Hershel took his seat up front, Randall slammed his car door a little harder than necessary.

"So, you two made up?"

Hershel turned towards the voice, behind where Clark was sitting in the passenger's seat. The voice was Brenda's, and she was still holding Luke, as the seatbelt was crossed over both of them.

Hershel twisted in his seat to look at Randall, then back at her, "Wait, you knew?"

"I'm sorry, Hersh." Randall said, "I was upset after you fell and I blabbed everything."

Hershel sat back in his chair, "And you don't mind?"

"I don't." Brenda said, "Clark?"

"Me neither."

_"I_ didn't know!" Claire was there too, squished between Brenda and Aurora, "But I must say, the two of you are so cute as a couple! So I don't mind either."

"Hm?" Aurora looked between all of them in the middle back seat, "Don't mind what?"

Hershel glanced at Randall again, who sighed tiredly.

"The Azran were far more civilized than us, I'm afraid." Randall leaned back to look out the window, "Just start driving, Hersh."

The rest of their trip passed in relative silence, aside from one occurance. At some point, Hershel was going to have to turn around, so he pulled off the road at a gas station to head back in the direction of London.

"Wait!" Randall leaned forward to scrutinize something outside, "Hersh, look!"

He did.

It was Stansbury. Many of the buildings appeared to be abandoned or in disrepair, and many of the plants had begun to whither or grow outwards uncontrollably.

"Stansbury?" Clark said, "Isn't that where you two grew up? Near the Norwell Wall?"

"Yeah." Randall craned his neck to watch the old town as they drove away, "I wonder what happened. Henry never mentioned this in his letters."

Hershel glanced at the town through his rearview mirror, "Do Henry and Angela still live there?"

"I _thought_ they did..." Randall returned to his lounging and staring, "I'll have to ask about that. Just five years ago, this place was still bustling."

It did strike Hershel as odd, but he didn't think about it as he focused on driving.

It looked like enough time had passed for the crowd around the site to disperse, but Hershel still parked fairly far from the sunken-in hole created by Bronev. It wasn't too steep thankfully, so all of them had an easier time getting down than they would have otherwise.

"Why is Luke still coming with us?" Randall made it to the bottom first, taking Aurora's hand when she stumbled.

"Because he's being fussy." Brenda slid down the wall with one arm on the slope, Luke in her other, "He won't let us put him down for even a second."

"I wanna solve the mys'ery too!" Luke crossed his arms in defiance.

"Oh dear." Hershel held out his arms, "Would you like me to hold him for you, Brenda?"

"Yes, please." she gratefully held him out, "Luke, you like Hershel, right?"

"Hechel!" Luke grasped Hershel's shirt in his tiny fists.

Hershel carefully held him against his side, "Luke, I will guard you with my life."

"Me too." Claire said.

Aurora held her arm out, her palm up, as light emitted from it, "The final puzzle of the cavern is this way. Follow me."

***

The final cavern, as it turned out, had a resemblance to the Norwell Wall, and the writing on the mask of Chaos. The same lettering that indicated more information on different sites, similar to those other Azranian artifacts.

"If you found me," Aurora touched the wall, something like wistfulness in her eyes, "Then you have the Mask of Order, do you not?"

Clark procured it, "Here. I knew it must be real, but we've never known what it was used for."

Aurora let her head bow, her arms out at her sides. The gem on her forehead began to glow. The words reacted to the glow, and a ghosted copy of the transcript floated outword, rearranging themselves into readable English letters.

"Whoa." Randall touched one, and it dissolved before reforming, "What are these, Aurora?"

"Floating nanobots." she replied, "I think. My head is still a bit fuzzy."

Luke's eyes were wide, "Whoa...those are pretty."

"Indeed, Luke." Hershel took a few steps back to servey the script, and to actually read it.

What he saw made the arm holding Luke feel weaker. He held the child with both his arms, reading it again and again until his eyes were strained.

"I don't believe it." he said.

"Huh?" Randall jogged to his side, "What do you see?"

Hershel got closer to one of the inscriptions, small enough to fit in a pocket-sized bible. It confirmed his suspicions. He cast a glance at Clark, who still held the white Mask of Order. Aurora twiddled her thumbs, knowing the answer but unable to say.

"The information we have here is incomplete." he stepped back again, "There is at least one piece we are still missing."

Randall was quickly putting the pieces together in his head, and he got paler the more he thought. His distress was obvious even in the darkness, and the blue lighting.

"What?" Clark had one arm on Brenda, "What's wrong?"

Hershel and Randall looked at each other.

"Randall, maybe we shouldn't." Hershel took his hand, "You don't have to. If it's too much-!"

"No, Hersh." Randall took a deep breath, one hand over his heart, "I can get over it. It won't be like last time."

Brenda stood beside the two men, "Like last time?"

Randall nodded, brushing down his shirt, "What Hershel is referring to as the missing piece is the mask of chaos, but I lost it in Akbadain because Hershel would have died had I not gotten him out of there. I had completely forgotten about it until you found the Mask of Order, Luke."

Luke looked up upon hearing his name, but didn't comment.

Hershel let his gaze fall, "Randall...if there's one thing I know about trauma, it's that you cannot simply ignore it until it goes away. Remember my Shell Shock? It was still affecting me, even when I didn't conciously remember the original event. The last thing I would want is for you to regress back into painful memories."

Claire and Brenda shared a glance.

Randall took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "No, I told you. It won't be like that. The worst part about it was just knowing that we were only there because of me, and you almost died. I was _convinced_ you were going to die. I _begged_ you to let me go to Akbadain, and it nearly killed you. It would have-!"

"It would not have been your fault." Hershel said sternly.

"I know, but that's what it felt like." Randall let his head fall into his hands, "No, no you're alive, you're alive and that won't happen again. It won't. It would nev-!"

Hershel hugged him with one arm, as he still carried Luke with the other, "I told you, Randall. You don't have to go."

Randall was stiff at first, but then he held onto Hershel, careful not to disturb Luke, "No, I should. I just can't think about it so much. I'll be fine, really."

Luke cocked his head, resting a hand on Randall's shoulder, "Landall?"

"I'm fine, little man." Randall lifted his head, "It won't be like last time."

Aurora tapped Hershel's shoulder, taking Luke from him to hold him herself, "Nothing will come of us staying here longer. This is the final puzzle in this cavern."

"Let's go, then." Randall said, "I'll lead."

***


	11. Chapter 11

"Hershel!"

Hershel's vision was doubling from his exhaustion. He dropped his pencil, and it rolled onto the floor and away from him.

"Hershel!" Luke was big enough now that he could lean on the desk, his chin resting on top of it, "Give me a puzzle! I'm bored!"

"Now Luke, be polite." Clark pat his head, "What do we say when we want something?"

Luke sighed, "Hershel, can you please give me a puzzle?"

Hershel rubbed his eyes, "Maybe later, Luke. I'm very tired right now."

"Hershel..." Clark took his shoulders to push him back, "How long have you been up?"

"Erm..." Hershel yawned, "All night?"

Randall's footsteps quickly came up the stairs, "Blocked."

"Still?" Hershel stood up to crack his back, "I would have thought they would fix it by _now."_

"Hersh..." Randall grabbed the fabric of Hershel's jacket, "How long have you been up?"

Hershel shrugged, "I couldn't sleep."

Randall sighed, letting go of him, "You can't function like this! What if I had news!? You wouldn't have been able to come with us!"

Hershel sat back in his chair before procuring the letter he'd been staring at to try and cheer himself up. Randall read it over, and a bright smile colored his features.

"Hersh, you did it!" Randall dropped the letter, "You're a professor! This is what you've always wanted, right?"

"Yes, but it somehow doesn't feel right at the moment." Hershel slumped, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Well..." Randall stepped aside when Claire entered the room, "Maybe it will."

She was carrying a box in her hands. It was wider than her head, and taller than her torso. It also had a very tall lid, tied with a ribbon all around each side.

"I heard about our newly-appointed professor!" Claire set the box on the desk, "Congratulations!"

Hershel stood up, running his hand along the velveteen box and smooth ribbon, "Is this for me?"

"Of course it is, silly!" Claire placed her hands on the desk, "Go on! Open it!"

Hershel eyed the box as he untied the ribbon and lifted the lid, setting it aside to see its contents. A brown top hat with a red silk ribbon above its rim. He took the hat in his hands, finding the material to be very soft.

"A hat?"

"Yes!" Claire clasped her hands, "I thought you'd look very dashing in it!"

"Whoa!" Randall stepped around him, "Now that looks like a nice hat!"

Hershel looked inside the hat, "You didn't know what she had in here?"

"I knew she had a gift, but I didn't know what it was." Randall stepped aside, "Well, Claire, would you like to do the honors?"

Claire took off Hershel's orange cap, then she took the new top hat and rested it on his head. He adjusted its brim, finding it to be very comfortable. It was as if the hat had belonged there all along.

"Professor Layton." Claire said, "You look very nice, Hershel."

"Wow!" Randall brushed a stray thread off the hat, "It's so tall! How does it feel?"

Hershel smiled, some of his tiredness evaporating. He gripped the brim of the hat again, "It fits well. Thank you, Claire. This is a very thoughtful gift."

"You're welcome!" she took his shoulders to straighten his posture, "You look the part of a true gentleman!"

"A true gentleman...?" Hershel glanced at Randall, who was beaming at him.

The news finally sank in, and his smile widened.

"I'm a professor." he said, "I can't believe it. After all these years..."

"Yes!" Randall grabbed him in a tight hug, "You've done it! Professor of archeology! How does it feel?"

Hershel hugged him back, a kind of calm enveloping him. He began to forget the reason he'd been up all night, and his eyelids grew heavy, but he didn't want to move. Not just yet.

Instead, he simply let the moment be as he said;

"It feels wonderful."

**End of Part 1**


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 2**

_"What is going on?" Randall leaned over Hershel's shoulder from where he sat in the driver's seat, "This is the way, right?"_

_Hershel looked at the map again, held in Clark's hands. The road was supposed to keep going, but for some reason it had ended, traffic cones blocking the way with signs to indicate a detour._

_Hershel pulled over to the side of the road and turned the car off, stepping outside to servey the landscape._

_"What's Hechel doing, Mama?" Luke tried to look out the windshield to see Hershel as he walked further away._

_"I'll find out." Randall left the car too, "Hey Hersh, what are you thinking?"_

_Hershel waved him over, "There used to be a road here. See the indication on the ground?"_

_"Yeah." there was an indented area that was a different color from the surrounding desert, "So, how do we get to Akbadain?"_

_Hershel kept walking, "I have a suspicion. I need only confirm it. Are you coming or not?"_

_Randall shrugged, "Better than waiting in the car. Lead the way, Hersh."_

_They kept walking, looking at the seam where the road once covered the landscape, being careful about where they stepped in case the ground suddenly gave way. They kept walking for another ten minutes or so, until they climbed over a hill and the land suddenly dropped._

_"Randall." Hershel held out his arm like a shield in front of his companion._

_He halted, "What?" he peered over the land, where a massive chasm opened up into a ravine. It stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions, and the other side of the gorge in front of them was so far away they could only just make out where the road used to be._

_"Oh." Randall turned Hershel to face himself, and he could tell that he was thinking, "What happened?"_

_"I haven't the foggiest, Randall." Hershel pulled his cap lower over his eyes, "But if I were to guess, I suspect Bronev may be responsible."_

_"Or Descole." Randall scoffed, "Do you think it may have been another cavern that caved in?"_

_"I couldn't tell you." Hershel knelt down to test the sturdiness of the edge, "In any case, crossing this area is not safe. We must find another way."_

_"How? There are no other roads to Craggy Canyon, and every other way through is still teeming with Targent's goons!"_

_Hershel sighed, rubbing his chin as he kept thinking, "Do you think they know?"_

_"I don't know." Randall took his hand, "But we probably shouldn't stay. Let's get back to the others and figure this out."_

***

Hershel slid the last piece into place, sitting back on the couch to servey his work, "You see? Once you have the right strategy, puzzles like this can be solved in almost no time at all."

Aurora kept one hand over her mouth, the other on the coffee table, "I see it now. I'm sorry I'm so slow."

"No need to apologize, my dear." he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You are doing well, I promise. It simply takes practice."

"Hi, Professor! Aurora!" Luke closed the door on his way in, hanging his bag by the door.

"Hello, Luke." Aurora folded her hands in her lap, "How was school today?"

"Boring." Luke took the lounge chair beside the couch, "Did you ever get that puzzle?"

Aurora sighed, "I did, eventually. I'm having a bit of a hard time, I'm afraid."

"Didn't they have puzzles in Azran?"

"Of course they did, but it's been a long time since then." Aurora rubbed her forehead, "The Azranians expected me to be asleep for a few thousand years at most. They never expected it would have taken over one million years."

"You'll get the hang of it." Hershel brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, "Why, the first time I tried to solve a puzzle, it took me ages! I needed every hint to figure it out!"

Luke laughed, his ankles crossed and his hands on the cushion, "I find that hard to believe, Professor."

"Everyone is a beginner at some point, Luke." Hershel nodded, "Including me."

"Hershel!" Randall burst into the house, "I have good news about Akbadain!"

"You do?" Hershel stood up, "What happened? Can we get there now?"

"I think so!" Randall reached into his jacket pocket, "But something else just came up. We should investigate that first."

Hershel watched as Randall took an envelope out of his pocket to hand to him. He took it in his hands, finding it to be already open. He took the wrinkled letter from inside and read it.

"Hm?" Luke got up from his chair to stand beside him, "What does it say, Professor?"

"A girl...?" Hershel looked at the address on the envelope, "From the town of Saint Mystere? Randall, who sent this letter?"

Randall shrugged, "I don't recognize the name. She says she has someone under her care that needs a loving home. She did say she knew Desmond, but that's all I know about her."

Hershel tucked the letter into the inside pocket of his jacket, "How far is it?"

"About a thirty minute drive."

Clark entered the house next, "Randall! Please tell me you have good news about the gorge..."

"It's cleared!"

"Thank goodness!"

"Hi, Dad." Luke caught sight of the paper in Clark's hands, "You got a letter too?"

"Yes, and it's important." Clark unfolded the paper, "It's from my father. Your grandfather, Luke. He says he and my mother were forced to move out of Misthallery because it was attacked by robots."

"Robots!?" Aurora ran to him, "You don't mean that Targent-!?"

"I don't know, but I fear that may be the case."

Luke blinked, "What's Misthallery?"

"Oh, it's my hometown. I lived there until I was eighteen." Clark stashed his letter, "My parents were forced to evacuate because of the attacks. We cannot wait any longer. Targent will only get more ruthless overtime."

"Will you let me go too, Dad!?" Luke tugged on his sleeve, "Please!? I promise I'll be safe!"

Clark scratched his beard, "Luke, I don't know..."

"I can protect him." Aurora pat his head, "He is much older now than he was, in any case."

"Yes, but this will be very dangerous." Clark knelt down to face his son, "And you are still a child, Luke. If something happened to you, I would never forgive myself."

Luke frowned, "But I want to help you solve the mystery! You've been at this almost my whole life! I don't even properly remember being in the cavern where we met Aurora! What should I do instead, stay here and wonder what you're all up to!?"

Hershel looked down at his pleading face, "He has a point, Clark. I don't like the idea of a child facing Targent, but if we say no he may simply find a way to follow us anyway. Luke is too smart to not try something like that. It would be better to allow him to come so at least we can try to keep an eye on him."

"Yeah! I can't sit this one out, Dad!"

_"Uggghhhhh..."_ Clark pinched the bridge of his nose, seemingly lost in thought.

"It's your choice, Clark." Hershel folded his arms, "I don't want to tell you how to raise your child. It's simply something to consider."

Clark stood up and rubbed his eyes before making his verdict, "Alright, Luke. You can go on two conditions."

Luke stepped back, straightening his posture, "I'm listening."

"One, stay within sight of someone else in the group. Nobody will travel alone while we're out. No wandering off by yourself, alright?"

"You got it!"

"And two," Clark let his expression soften, "If your life is in danger for any reason, you will get yourself to safety at all costs. We can always solve the mystery later, but you are irreplaceable. If we lost you, then no amount of solved puzzles will have been worth it. You see danger, you protect yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

Luke got really quiet. He closed his eyes for a moment, his brow furrowed, "But-!"

"No exceptions. You keep yourself safe. Do you agree to this?"

Luke sighed, wringing his hands together while he reasoned it out in his head, "Fine. I'll keep myself safe."

"Promise?"

Luke nodded, "I promise."

Clark eased into a strained smile, "That's my boy."

Luke hugged him, the top of his head just high enough to reach his father's shoulders.

"Everyone!"

Dimitri burst into the house. He coughed, the smell of smoke clinging to him. His eyes were sunken in, yet wide at the same time.

"Dimitri!" Hershel said, "What on Earth-!?"

"It's Claire!"

Hershel's heart dropped into his stomach. His best friend. His ambitious, excitable, smart and practical friend. The one who had given him his beloved hat.

Dimitri took a deep breath, tears in his eyes, "She's in the hospital!"

***


	13. Chapter 13

He didn't often think about it. Hershel used to spend a lot of time with Claire when they were in university, but he hadn't been with her for much of the past year because of how busy they had both become. If Hershel had known that Claire was going to get hurt in a failed time-travel experiment, he would have tried harder to make time for her.

A knock on the open office door startled him from his musings, "Hey, Hersh. You done with classes today?"

Hershel stood up from the document that was making his eyes spiral in circles, "Uh, yes. Hello, Randall."

Randall closed the door and pulled the curtains shut on the window before sauntering over to Hershel to give him a quick hello kiss. It made Hershel realize just how ready he was for the day to be over. His headache eased slightly after Randall kissed him, and then even more when he decided to give Hershel a peppering of kisses across his lips towards his cheek.

He laughed, "Randall!"

"What?" he drew back, popping Hershel's collar and brushing a bit of chalk dust off his chest, "I won't be able to kiss you once we leave this office. I need to get it out of my system, you know?"

"You are ridiculous."

"You're the one who agreed to this." Randall kissed him again, "Are you ready to go to the hospital?"

They hadn't been able to go previously because visiting hours were over, but Hershel was apprehensive today, "Do you think it's really bad?"

"It might be." Randall put another kiss on Hershel's jawline, "You seem really tired, Hersh. Are you okay?"

Hershel sighed, "I was worse before you came here. How did you know this was my office?"

"Um, Professor Layton?" Randall rose an amused eyebrow, _"The_ Professor Hershel Layton? You're kind of famous, you know. I just had to go to the building I knew and ask around until I found your name on the side of the classroom."

Hershel scratched his cheek, "Oh."

Randall guided him towards the door, planting more kisses as he went, "Ah wait, one more..."

"Randall, we have to leave sometime."

"I know I know, one more." Randall placed one more longer kiss to Hershel's lips.

When he pulled away, Hershel had the doorknob in his hand, "Are you done?"

"Yes." He adjusted his tie, "Alright, let's go."

The drive over was quiet, and relatively short. Hershel had let his class out early today, so rush hour traffic wasn't quite at its peak. He would have the rest of the weekend to figure all of this out. If he couldn't get everything in order in time, well, he would have to either cancel his lectures or arrange for a substitute. He hoped he wouldn't have to, though. It would be a hassle.

"Okay. We're here." Randall parked the car in front of the hospital, "Let's go inside."

Clark, Brenda, Luke, and Dimitri were already there, in the waiting room. Clark was pacing in nervous circles, Luke was hunched over in one of the plastic chairs, Brenda was leaning against the wall biting her nails, and Dimitri was in the corner, staring at a pocket watch as each second ticked by.

When the other two walked in, Dimitri looked up, "You made it."

"Have you seen her yet?" Randall let the door close behind him.

Dimitri shook his head, "She went into cardiac arrest some time ago. They've been trying to resuscitate her for the past..." he opened his watch again, "Forty six minutes."

Luke let his forehead rest in his hands.

Hershel looked around the small room, "Where's Aurora?"

Brenda lifted her head, "She's in there with them. They tried to kick her out, but she physically insisted she stay and try to help Claire."

"She basically has magic, right?" Luke tapped on his knees with his fingertips, "What would you call that, Professor?"

"Honestly, Luke..." Hershel sat in the chair beside him, "I still don't have a word for what she does. It can't be scientific, because we do not understand it, however the Azranians surely did."

"It may simply be a barrage of nanobots that emit light." Randall joined Clark in pacing, "We have the models for such an autonomous versatile machine, but we don't have the technology for it yet."

"The Azranians were incredible." Luke said, "To be able to build something like that and then give someone the ability to create millions of them to do your bidding without really thinking about it."

"It truly is like magic." Hershel adjusted his hat, feeling a pang of sadness at the action, "We need something like that now more than ever."

Another twenty agonizingly long minutes passed. Luke took out his notebook a few times to jot down notes. Brenda and Clark took turns pacing and leaning on the wall. Dimitri stared into his watch like it was the most interesting gadget he'd ever seen. Randall sat down on Hershel's other side, contemplating something fiercely for a few minutes before resuming his rigorous pacing.

"Everyone."

Every head turned towards the doctor's voice. Aurora came out from the hallway, softly sobbing into her hands.

That was a bad sign.

"Doctor?" Hershel stood up, "Is Claire...?"

The doctor looked at his clipboard, "Are you all here for Claire Foley?"

They all crowded around the doorway. Luke said, "Is she okay? Can we see her?"

The doctor watched all of them with pity in his gaze.

"I'm sorry." he said, "But Miss Foley has passed away."

Hershel felt his gut tighten into a painful knot. His sternum constricted his breathing. His fists were so tight his nails made indentations in his palms. He felt nauseous. He felt lightheaded.

"I'm sorry." Aurora's tears spilled from her hands, "I tried to save her, but my powers are stunted. I couldn't do it. I'm so sorry."

Randall stepped to the front of the group, facing the doctor, "I don't believe you."

His face was white as a sheet of paper. He swayed as if the effort to stay upright was too much. As if he was fighting gravity itself.

"I can take you to her." he said, "Wait here one moment."

When they saw her, they were all in shock. She was covered in bloodied bandages, an IV still in the back of her hand, though the machine that read her vitals was switched off. She didn't move or breathe. Her skin was normally tanned and flushed, so seeing her so pale and sullen almost made her look like a completely different person. Most odd however, was that her eyes were covered with a clean rag, as if to hide the fact that they wouldn't stay closed.

Clark fell to his knees beside the bed. Brenda took Claire's limp arm to hold her hand. Luke stayed by the door, afraid to approach. Dimitri just stared.

Randall took Hershel's sleeve in his fist, then he completely turned to hold Hershel in a tight hug. Hershel's back hit the wall before he reciprocated, and every sob that Randall let out made him quake, trembling with the weight of a kind of grief he thought he'd never feel again.

Hershel held onto Randall with one arm as he carefully made his way over, placing a shaking hand on Claire's forehead, one area with no bandages.

Her skin was cold.

***

Randall sat at the kitchen table, listening passively to the voices in the other room. He wasn't actually hearing their words, but he vaguely recalled their inflections. Their tones.

Randall resisted the tears that pricked at the back of his eyes. Claire was _dead._ He couldn't think of that as a true statement. It had come so suddenly. She went from cheerful and lively to _dead_ in less than a day. Why did that have to happen? Claire was on track to living a full and happy life. It wasn't fair. It hurt so much knowing that she was gone.

Randall finally stood up, doubling over from the pain, before leaving the room.

"Hello, Randall." Hershel took his shoulders, "How are you feeling?"

He appeared to be calm, but Randall knew him better than that. He had simply shut down. He was numb.

"Aurora." Randall picked her out of the room, "You can dull pain, right?"

Aurora bowed her head, "I'm sorry. I can't help with emotional pain."

"Then let me ask you this..." Randall roughly took her hand and placed it over his heart, "I want you to hurt me!"

Her eyes widened in shock. Luke covered his mouth.

"Randall!" Hershel grabbed him, "Have you lost your mind?"

"If I'm in physical pain, then I can't feel the hole where Claire used to be!"

Aurora twisted her arm out of his grasp, shaking her head with her mouth open, but no sound came out.

Randall reached for her, "Please! I can't stand this!"

"Randall, get ahold of yourself!" Hershel held him by his collar, "We will _not_ resort to violence in this house! Do I make myself clear!?"

Randall fell against him, "Hershel! I need something to make it stop!"

He collapsed into loud sobbing, and Hershel held him up until he could set him on the ground on his knees. Randall buried his face in Hershel's shoulder, and Hershel held onto him until he began to shake as well.

_"She shouldn't have died."_ Randall was mumbling, _"She was just fine yesterday. I can't believe she died. I won't believe it. It hurts so so much, Hershel."_

Hershel kept holding him steady until his sobs dissolved into hiccups and sniffles. Then he gently pulled away, revealing to Randall that he was crying too.

"I know how you feel." Hershel wiped his tears away, "Claire was my friend too. No, she was my best friend. Losing her has given me a kind of grief I've seldom felt from any other time in my life. However, we cannot harm ourselves because of that grief, even if you feel it would help. Claire wouldn't want that."

Randall looked away, his thumb and forefinger rubbing his eyes.

"I know Claire wouldn't want that. Of course she wouldn't." Randall hugged himself, "She actually cared about me."

Before Hershel could realize the implications of what he'd just said, Randall stood up on shaking legs, "Come here, Hershel. I want to talk to you. Alone."

Hershel glanced up at Aurora, Luke, Clark, and Brenda, who had all gathered in a group hug until this moment, when they dispersed, with Clark still keeping a hand each on his wife and child.

"We'll go make sure the car is packed." Clark numbly led the group away, and then they were alone.

Randall brought Hershel to the kitchen, closing the door between the living room and themselves.

Hershel took his hand, "I'm listening."

Randall swallowed, then he carefully took his left sleeve and folded it back.

Hershel's breath caught in his throat. Raised white lines were in neat little rows from Randall's wrist to the inside of his elbow. Hershel took the limb, running a thumb over one of them and causing Randall to shiver.

But this was his left arm, and Randall was left-handed, "Do you have...?"

Randall lifted his other sleeve, and there were easily twice as many lines on that limb, creating what must have been a total of fifteen or more.

Hershel took both scarred arms in his hands, "Randall...did you do this yourself?"

Randall dipped his head so his expression was hidden, "It became too much. I was carrying a lot of emotional pain, and I didn't have a lot of close friends after university. I was alone most nights, and the pain was sometimes so severe I could hardly move. You were wrong, Hershel. I don't _think_ hurting myself would help." he looked up with fresh tears in his eyes, "I _know_ it will."

Hershel took Randall's face in his hands, and Randall grabbed onto Hershel's wrists. Hershel had a near-perfect memory. There was a small scar on Randall's nose that he always had bandaged as a child. He also had a scar above his right eyebrow from the robot mummies in Akbadain. Hershel tried to think back to when these new scars had appeared on him. He had only seen Randall's bare arms twice before. Once after Randall had let him borrow his jacket and had worn a short-sleeved shirt underneath, and the second when they escaped Asylum together and had worn those hospital gowns. Both times Hershel knew for a fact that Randall's arms had only scuffs, as these neat lines were absent.

Hershel realized that afterwards, Randall had always worn only long sleeves in every circumstance. These scars could have appeared at any time, and he never would have known.

"I'm sorry, Hershel." Randall closed his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

"Randall, please don't apologize." Hershel forced him to look up, "Do you not care for yourself? Is that what you were implying earlier?"

Randall smiled, but his eyes betrayed his sadness, "I don't care when I get myself hurt, Hershel. I only care when other people are hurt. That's why I keep blaming myself for that scar you have from the robot mummies. Just knowing you have it is a constant reminder of how I failed. How you could have died because of me. _How you almost did."_

"Randall, hush." Hershel kissed him, and Randall instinctively wrapped his arms around his neck, his sleeves still rolled up.

When Randall pulled away, he rested his forehead on Hershel's shoulder, "You're truly too good for me, Hershel. You deserve so much better than me."

"Randall, be quiet." Hershel held him upright, "You don't get to talk anymore. It's my turn now."

Randall snapped his mouth shut, then he nodded.

"Good, now listen to me." Hershel held Randall's hands between them, "It is true that we were in Akbadain because of you, however you told us that we could simply leave if we were worried about the danger. I decided to let you go anyway because if you hadn't you would have been miserable. Furthermore, you did not give me my scar. Those mummies did. You stopped the bleeding and stayed with me until I woke up. Then, once we were leaving the ruin and I was bleeding out again, you carried me on your back all the way to civilization in order to save my life. Craggy Dale is normally at least an hour's walk away from Craggy Canyon, and yet you made that entire trip in the hot desert sun with me to weigh you down."

Randall opened his mouth, then he closed it, looking thoughtful.

"If you had not been there for me." Hershel continued softly, "I would have died. The reason we are both still here today is because we've been protecting each other from day one. You are incredibly kind and loving, Randall. You are ambitious, clever, intelligent, witty, and so passionate about archeology. You see something you want, and you go after it, no matter who tries to tell you to stop, and yet you got attached to the homebody in school who was so timid and meek he worried if he would ever fit in. So don't try and tell me what you deserve or not, because as far as I'm concerned, you deserve every star in the sky."

Randall was sobbing again, not with tears of despair this time, but with tears of joy.

_"Hersh..."_ Randall held Hershel's hands to his face, _"...love you...I love you so...I love you so much...so much..."_

"I love you too." Hershel gave him one last kiss. One that was much softer, "Now, we should prepare for our trip. Shall we?"

***


	14. Chapter 14

The silence in the front yard was heavy without Claire. Clark shut the trunk of the car, paused as he watched Brenda in the backseat, then climbed into the driver's seat. Luke climbed in beside Brenda, silently staring at his shoes, while Aurora took the seat up front, beside Clark. Luke leaned on his mother, and she wrapped an arm around him.

"Hm?" Hershel watched Randall open the back door for him, "Clark, this is my car."

"I know." Clark tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, "But you haven't been sleeping well. I figured it wasn't safe for you to drive until you got some sleep."

Hershel looked at Randall, who cocked his head towards the seat beside Luke, "Ugh. Fine."

Randall climbed in after him, and he shut the door once inside as Clark started the engine.

"Here." Randall got a pillow from behind the back seats, putting it next to him with his arm underneath, "Lean on me."

Hershel complied, and Randall held him in a loose side-hug. Hershel's head rested on Randall's shoulder. Maybe Clark was right. He was too tired to drive.

He was asleep before they had gotten out of London.

St. Mystere was a small town with a moat around it. It didn't appear to be very busy, but there was a person out front who verified the letter that Randall had gotten and pointed them in the right direction.

"Professor." Luke walked to the front of the group, "If we're picking up another person here, then how will we all fit in the car?"

A familiar person emerged from around the mayor's office, "I wouldn't worry about that, my boy."

Hershel stopped the others in their tracks, "Desmond."

Desmond appeared the same as he always had, but with more stress wrinkles under his eyes, and perhaps more flyaways coming off his mop of hair. He approached them slowly.

Randall frowned, "Desmond, where on Earth have you been!? We've been looking for you for years!"

Desmond dropped his attempt at a smile, "Listen, Targent has been giving me a headache too, alright? I'm trying to protect the only family I have, besides you of course, Hershel."

Hershel felt a chill up his spine.

"Huh?" Luke looked at Desmond, then at Hershel, "Professor, who is this?"

Hershel adjusted his hat, "Luke, this is Desmond Sycamore. My, um, biological brother."

Desmond led the way down the street, "We are not true family, in a sense, but I still feel protective of you. I hope you can forgive my absence."

"No need to apologize. I'm sure you had valid reason."

Desmond looked away, "Yes. Well, here we are."

The biggest house in town was a manor at the top of the hill. Desmond pushed the heavy door open, "Flora, dear. Come here for a moment."

A girl in an orange dress and brown ponytail turned the corner. Her boots clacked on the polished marble floor. She looked up at them with large black eyes that shone with something sad.

"The poor girl just lost her father." Desmond gently urged her forward with one hand on her back, "I was going to adopt her myself, but I don't feel I could raise her properly. After we settle things with Targent, will you take her for me?"

Hershel held out his hand, and Flora took it uneasily.

"Desmond, is your brother here already?" A woman came around the corner. She looked to be in her early to mid forties, with smile lines and heavy eye shadow. A feathered scarf lay around her shoulders.

Desmond nodded, a real smile taking over his face, which was rare for him, "Everyone, this is my sweetheart."

"Dahlia Reinhold." she placed her hands on Flora's shoulders, "You must be Professor Layton. It's an honor to finally meet you."

"Ah, no. The honor is all mine."

Luke met Flora's eye. He made a silly face at her, his tongue out, and she laughed.

"You have a lovely smile." he lifted his hand for a handshake, "Luke Triton, at your service!"

Flora blushed shyly as she took his hand, "Thank you, Luke."

Dahlia gave a nod of approval, "I think you'll get along with them, my dear."

Hershel looked between Desmond and Dahlia, "So...you're Flora's mother?"

"I'm Flora's step mother, actually. I was never as close to her as I was her father, but I hope to get to know her better one day. Once we figure this whole thing out."

Desmond cleared his throat, "Well, that's enough of that. We'd better get going." he led the way out of the house.

Dahlia called back into the hallway, "Matthew! Remember to be careful with Claudia! I'm leaving!"

"What!?" Desmond blocked her path, "I never agreed to this! You're staying here!"

"And watch you go off into danger by yourself!? I don't think so, darling."

"I'm going too!" Flora stood beside Luke, "You aren't leaving me behind again!"

"Girls!" Desmond squeezed his temples, "You will go into danger under no circumstances! Need I remind you what happened last time!?"

"You can't keep sheltering me forever!" Flora moved behind Luke, "If you and Dahlia are going, then so am I!"

"And besides that, I am not old." Dahlia crossed her arms as she stood beside Hershel, "I can handle myself. I have all of you, don't I?"

Desmond's pupils shrunk, his usual warm maroon irises becoming a much deeper blood-red color. He scowled, his brow twitching. He grit his teeth.

Desmond had become Descole.

Sensing disaster, Hershel said, "Desmond, we don't have time to argue about this. We won't even be there for long if we can help it. We get in, find the mask of chaos, and then get out before they have a chance to find us. We have each other, and that will have to be enough. Let's go before we lose more time."

Descole's eyes widened in shock. They closed them, rubbing their forehead until their harsh breathing returned to normal.

"Fine." Desmond was back, "But we need to hurry. Flora, Dahlia, you had better keep yourselves safe or so help me I-!"

He didn't finish that thought.

"Don't worry, Desmond." Flora said, "We'll be okay. We have you, after all."

Desmond ran a hand through his bangs, dragging it down his face, _"That's what I'm worried about..."_

Flora tilted her head, "What?"

"Nevermind." Desmond quickly left the house, "Let's go. Your car will be safe until we get back."

***


	15. Chapter 15

Hershel had been sleeping again, leaning against Randall, who was holding him close. Desmond's car was bigger than the Laytonmobile by three seats, so eight people total could fit inside, including the driver. Hershel Randall and Brenda were in the back, Clark Aurora and Luke were in the middle, and Dahlia and Desmond were in the front, with Desmond as the driver.

Luke looked behind him to watch Hershel as he stirred, "Hey, I've been meaning to ask...why can't I tell anyone that Randall and the Professor are dating?"

Clark was staring out the window, "Can you guess?"

"Uh..." Luke put a hand to his mouth, "No. I have no idea."

He really didn't understand. Hershel leaned further into Randall's side, and he held him with both arms.

"I am curious about that, too." Aurora said, "So? What is it?"

Dahlia rested her head against the window.

Clark looked towards Aurora and Luke, "It's because they're both men."

"What?" Luke blankly stared ahead, then he looked over his seat again, "Are you joking?"

Clark shook his head, "It's part of our culture, Luke. We never told you because we never felt the need. Since you were born, attitudes have been changing, but it was much harder for us when we were young."

Luke sat with his hands in his lap, "Randall, is that true?"

Randall didn't answer at first, lost in very old memories.

"Yes. It's true." he traced the line where Hershel's head disappeared under his hat, "It's kind of funny how long we were together before we realized our feelings, but I only figured it out because it became too strong to ignore. I've had crushes on girls before, and adults always told me that was part of love."

Luke shook his head, "That is so unfair! I didn't even notice! How have I gone this long without figuring it out?"

"You probably did." Desmond said, his eyes on the road, "You just didn't believe it. I know I didn't when I was your age."

The rest of the car ride passed in silence. Hershel went back to sleep at some point, and only awoke to the sound of Randall's voice.

"Hershel." the car had stopped by now, "Wake up. We're here."

Hershel stepped out of the car, stretching his arms high over his head. The gorge was behind them, as a bridge had been built over it. It struck Hershel as odd how busy the road seemed to be, until he saw all the bright lights.

"Whoa." Randall looked ahead. At the entrance of the grand city was a sign that read, _Welcome to Monte d'Or._

"Look at all those lights!" Luke was holding Aurora's hand, "Is this really Monte d'Or!?"

"The city of miracles!" Randall headed for the entrance, where a huge crowd had gathered for a parade, "Monte d'Or is _here!?_ Why is it built over Akbadain?"

Hershel took Randall's hand before he could wander off, "This is astounding. The famous and very recent city of miracles, right on top of this old ruin."

"Wait, does that mean...!?" Randall jumped up and down in place, "You don't think Henry and Angela are here!? Come on, Hersh! We've got to find them!"

"We will go together." Hershel urged everyone forward, "Don't get lost in the crowd!"

They were reasonably good at staying together, though with so many of them, it would have been easy to lose someone in the crowd. Randall counted heads as he walked, just to be safe.

"Ah, um..." Randall pulled everyone aside when the crowd got thicker, "How do we find them?"

Hershel crossed his arms, "I take it you didn't think very far ahead?"

Randall laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, well, it's simple." Hershel pointed into the main plaza, "They probably aren't in this crowd. Henry and Angela are rather tall, and they both have pale blonde hair, so they would stand out in a crowd like this. Plus, Henry has never been known to enjoy crowded spaces, so if he is here, he is probably in a less-dense area."

"Oh!" Aurora moved to the front, "Allow me to find them. I have good eyes, so I can see well through this crowd."

Hershel smiled, "Very well, then. By all means, lead the way."

Randall expected her to use her "magic" again, but instead she simply scanned the area, one hand at her chin, as she set her eyes on each person in the city. Finally, she stood up on her tiptoes, and she pointed.

"There! I see a man with pale blond hair! And he's far from the crowd! He's on the next street over!"

Randall squinted. There was another street over, but he could barely see through all the lights, "Can you lead us to him?"

"Okay. Follow me." Aurora waited for a lull in the parade, then she quickly ushered the others forward. Luke glanced behind them as they walked.

"I will not let this city fall!" a stern voice was saying, "You will go back, and you will find out who is destroying my beloved city! Do I make myself clear!?"

Randall couldn't believe his eyes. He was older, maybe more angry than usual, but he was here.

"Henry?"

Henry jumped, turning to the voice. The man he'd been talking to ran away.

"Master Randall...?" Henry stumbled, "You...?"

"Henry!" Randall ran to him, _"Henry!"_

"Randall!" Henry grabbed him, planting his feet so he didn't get knocked over.

"Henry! Oh my goodness, it's you! You're here!"

"Master Randall." Henry pulled away, "No, Randall. You are not my master anymore. I'm so happy to see you. Why are you here?"

He looked behind his friend at the group of people that had come to visit. Hershel stepped forward first, "Henry."

"Hershel." Henry blinked away the tears, "It's you. Oh, are you and Randall still...?"

Hershel tilted his hat in a sort of greeting, "Yes, we are. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"Henry, you have a beard!" Randall hugged him again, but then he jumped back, "Oh, sorry, am I smothering you?"

"Not at all." Henry huffed, "But I am not doing so well right now. My city has been under attack for the past year, and nobody knows why or who is doing it."

"Your city!?" Luke gripped the brim of his new blue cap, "Randall, why didn't you tell me that your friend owned Monte d'Or!?"

"I..." Randall shook his head, dumbfounded, "Henry, what happened while I was gone?"

Henry glanced all around the street, "I will tell you, but not here. Come with me back to my house. Angela will love to see you."

"Angela!" Randall said, "Come on, everyone! Let's go!"

The back streets were far less busy than the main plaza, so it was mostly just a matter of getting from point A to point B. As they walked though, Hershel noticed that Desmond kept averting his gaze, twiddling his thumbs or holding his hands behind his back. It was like he was lost in bad thoughts or memories. Like he was ruminating.

"Desmond." Hershel caught his eye as they walked, "I was wondering...I always celebrate my birthday on February fifteenth, but is that actually my birthday?"

Desmond smiled, some of the tension in his shoulders easing, "It's your birthday."

Hershel exhaled, "Whew. Thank goodness."

"Everything about you is the same except for your name." Desmond shrugged, "The adoption center didn't look at anything else, so it was the only thing I had to change. Besides, if I had swapped our birthdays, I would have had to swap the years too, and that would have been a lot more suspicious considering I was twelve at the time, and you were only seven."

Hershel nodded, "I see. Thank you, Desmond."

"Any time, Professor."

Hershel's unexpected question seemed to lift Desmond's spirits a little bit, but he still seemed overly tired. The wrinkles under his eyes were more prominent now than the last time Hershel had seen him. Well, that made some amount of sense, Hershel was 35 by now, so that made Desmond 40. Still, he shouldn't seem as old as he did.

"Here we are." Henry used his key to open the door, "Wait here."

The foyer was nice and spacious, with fancy decor as well as three fancy sofas. Desmond leaned against the wall with Dahlia beside him, but almost everyone else took the sofas.

"Randall!?" Angela appeared from the staircase, "Oh my god! You're really here!"

"Angela!" Randall ran to hug her, "Angela. I missed you."

"I missed you too!" Angela pushed him back, "Wait, let me look at you! Oh! You're so grown up!"

"Angela!" Randall stepped out of her reach, "You're not my mom! Stop fussing over me!"

"I can't help it! You look very handsome, Randall!"

_"Angelaaa!"_

Hershel said, "It's wonderful to see you again, Angela."

"Hershel..." she smiled at him, then she came in for a hug, "My goodness! You cut your hair!"

Hershel laughed, "You look beautiful. It's so nice to see you again."

Angela serveyed the group of people in her living room, looking back and forth between her old friends and everyone else before Hershel noticed that both her and Henry were wearing wedding rings.

"Anyway..." Randall brushed a hand through his hair, "Henry, why did you build Monte d'Or on top of Akbadain?"

Henry frowned as he thought, his eyebrows low over his half-circle eyes.

"Wait here. I promise I will explain everything."

***

Dahlia and Desmond had begun to lean against each other with their eyes closed, as if the stress was catching up to them but they didn't want to sleep. Luke had taken a book out of his bag to read, but Flora kept trying to read it over his shoulder, so he held it between them, each of them turning up the corner of the page when they were ready to turn it but the other wasn't yet, so that way they could turn the page together. Brenda had gone back to biting her nails while Clark paced back and forth from the staircase to the bookshelf beside the front door. As for Hershel, he was sitting beside Brenda with Angela and then Randall on his other side as the old friends exchanged words in hushed yet happy voices.

Aurora stood in the corner, her eyes gently glowing. She was clearly lost in thought, though what she was thinking about, they could only begin to guess.

Finally, Henry returned with something glimmering in his hands, "Randall."

"Huh?" Randall stood up to accept the object, "The mask of chaos? But it's..."

"Fake." Henry turned it over, revealing chipped gold paint on top of a wooden sculpture, "If word got out that I had it, I was hoping you would eventually come back for it."

Randall became downcast, letting go of the mask and stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I was more likely to come back if I knew you were here, Henry. You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Henry stared into the eyes of the mask, "Then why did you stop answering my letters?"

"Huh?" Randall waited until Henry looked back up at him, "You kept sending me letters? I thought you were the one who stopped. I never stopped writing you."

They stared at each other, considering the implications of this.

Hershel stood up to face the other two, "Has someone been stealing your letters?"

"Well it makes sense that they couldn't be delivered, doesn't it?" Desmond cracked one eye open, "Not even mailmen could get past that chasm, especially with Targent in the area."

"But if that were the case, the letters would be returned to the sender." Randall pointed out, "I never got my letters back. It was like I was writing into a void."

"It's the same for me." Henry ran his thumb along the sun on the fake mask of chaos, "It suggests that our letters were purposefully intercepted."

"I wouldn't put it past Targent." Desmond scoffed, "They've already done so much worse."

Luke and Flora weren't really reading the book anymore, so Luke bookmarked the page and put it away, "Professor?"

"Yes, Luke?"

Luke took his cap off, rubbing the soft material between his fingers, "What is Akbadain exactly? You never really explained that to me."

Hershel sat down, his hand on his mouth, "Akbadain is an ancient Azranian ruin. It was likely a city once, many thousands of years ago, but now it's a cavern full of puzzles hiding an ancient treasure. The reason we don't often talk about is because...well..."

Randall rubbed the back of his neck, "We have bad memories of Akbadain. You see, we almost died there, many years before you were born. Just knowing that I'm near it again is making my skin crawl."

Hershel crossed his arms, leaning back against the sofa.

"Oh." Luke replaced his cap, "I didn't know that. I mean, I knew you didn't like Akbadain but I didn't know..."

Hershel nodded when he didn't finish, "I know, Luke. There are plenty of things we never told you, simply because we don't like talking about them."

Henry scuffed his shoes in the carpet. Randall placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Henry." he said, "About Akbadain...?"

"Yes, of course." Henry walked across the room to place the mask on an end table, "About six months after you two left Stansbury, a rumor went around that you had faked your death."

Randall swallowed.

"You faked your death!?" Luke and Flora said in unison.

"Ugh, it must have been my fath-Mister Ascot." Randall shook his head, "So what happened?"

"Well, I was worried about you, first of all." Henry drummed his fingers on his wrist, "I was convinced that something awful had happened to you. I wrote you a letter, and you gave me a response, but I still wasn't put at ease. I decided that in order to protect you, I had to bite back with my own rumor, so I doubled down on you having been lost in Akbadain. You left a lot of those riches to me, so I offered a reward to anyone who could find you here, especially if you were alive."

The gears were turning in Randall's head, "Wait, let me guess; A bunch of people came here seeking the reward, and before long, there was a bustling community."

"That's right." Henry smiled warmly, "I think it may have worked. Mister Ascot stayed here for much of his time, joining in trying to find you. I'm unsure exactly what he was thinking, but I am relieved that at least he was away from you."

"So..." Randall sat back on the sofa, "Is he...?"

Henry shook his head.

"There's someone I think you should see. In the meantime, maybe you can explain to me why you're here today?"

***


	16. Chapter 16

Randall was with Hershel, Luke, and Flora. The others had gone off to explore other parts of the city, wary of being spotted all in one large group. Henry and Angela were with them too, leading the way to another house nearby. Henry rapped on the door, and a cheerful _"Come in!"_ rang out from inside. Henry opened the door, motioning for the others to come inside.

Randall paused in the living room. It was more modest than Henry and Angela's house, but it was still clearly a luxury home. Sitting in a wheelchair by the fireplace, in front of a few armchairs, was someone Randall never thought he'd see again.

His eyes filled with tears, "Mother...?"

Randall's mother had gray all throughout her hair, and she was perhaps more short and stout than she used to be, but she was still clearly recognizable. She brought both hands to her mouth, and Randall quietly approached her.

"Mother, you're here?" Randall knelt down so he could hug her gently.

"Randall." Mrs. Ascot held him with all her strength, "You _are_ alive. I truly never thought I would see you again."

Randall kissed her forehead before standing up, "Mother, I'm sorry I had to run away. I never wanted to leave you, I just..."

"Your father." she said, "I know. He had the best intentions for you, but he got it all wrong. I should have stopped him. I shouldn't have let you suffer. I'm so sorry, my dear."

"Mother, I..."

Randall didn't know what to say. He had forgotten what this felt like. Feeling the love of his own mother. He squeezed his eyes shut, wiping his tears away with his arm.

Henry moved to her side, one hand on her shoulder, "She was devastated when she received the news. After your father went looking for you, she came to me for help. She was so stressed, always blaming herself. I took her in once she became sick, and I've been taking care of her ever since."

"Oh, Henry..." Randall sniffed, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know if I can repay you for that."

"There's no need, Randall." Henry said, "I promise. You have done so much for me. I don't need repaying.

"So, wait..." Randall glanced back at his mom, "You didn't tell her I was alive?"

"No." Henry gave a tired shrug, "I wanted to, but I was afraid the information would get back to your father."

Randall watched him, his expression softening, though he was sure his gaze was haunted.

He inhaled slowly, "Where is my father?"

Mrs. Ascot frowned sadly, "Ah, I'm sorry Randall, but...he passed away a few years ago."

Fear was a curious thing. It could start as something awful, a cold shiver inside your chest, when it suddenly lifts like a heavy rock tied to a hot air balloon. It could be a fear that lasts for years, decades even, and you didn't even realize how bad it was until you could think clearly again.

Randall tried to mask his happiness, he really did, but he couldn't help himself this time, _"YES!"_ he flung himself at Hershel, "Did you hear that, Hersh!? My father is _dead!_ We never have to see him again! We never have to worry about him _ever again!"_

Hershel held him up so he didn't fall. He didn't feel they should celebrate necessarily, but he couldn't help himself either. He was beaming too.

"Now, Randall!" Mrs. Ascot pointed an accusatory finger at him, "That is no way to speak of your father! I know he hurt you, but you are still his son! Don't be rude to the dead!"

Randall felt something squeeze his heart, the lightness from before replaced with something hot. It wasn't fear or sadness, it was anger. He felt his face turn red as his throat seized up. He turned to her, ready to scream-!

_"Randall."_ Hershel hissed softly in his ear, _"Stop. Don't escalate this situation. Don't say something you'll regret. She was a victim of him too, remember?"_

The words died in Randall's throat, fizzling out as he deflated with a long exhale. He took a few more deep breaths, trying to steady himself, rubbing his forehead with both hands.

Without another word, he turned and left, closing the door on his way out.

***

"Randall." Hershel stopped in his tracks, his arms crossed over his chest, "Please, don't wander. I know you're upset, but I don't want you to get lost."

Randall was overlooking a very familiar cliff, near a massive building called _Reunion Inn._ He gazed down into the canyon, full of camps with tents and empty soup cans.

He turned around, and Hershel's heart panged. He was crying.

_"I couldn't let anyone see me cry."_ Randall's voice shook violently, _"Especially not Henry. I don't want him to think I'm weak after all this time."_

Hershel reached out, holding Randall's shoulders as Randall looked down at the dusty ground beneath them.

Hershel's gaze filled with sympathy, "Why not?"

Randall's eyes sparkled as big fat tears cascaded down his face, _"I don't know what's wrong with me. I was so happy just now, but my own mother took it all away from me. Again. I don't know what to feel now."_

Hershel pulled him closer, holding him protectively against his chest, "I get the feeling you've been holding this in for a long time. I understand how you feel. Please let yourself cry if you need to."

Randall held onto him, his tears soaking into Hershel's jacket. His chest was tight, his head heavy. He tried to breathe, coughing when dust entered his lungs.

_"First Claire dies, then my own mother invalidates me being happy that my abuser will never bother me again. I didn't mean it like that, Hersh. You know I didn't. I wasn't trying to be rude. I'm just so sick of being in so much pain. I feel so terrible. I don't know what to do."_

"There there..." Hershel stroked his back patiently, "It's alright. I've got you now."

Hershel heard footsteps behind them, and Randall stiffened in his arms.

"Randall?"

Henry. The rest of their group had caught up. Randall backed away, his foot slipping on the cliff-!

"Careful!" Hershel grabbed his arm, yanking him back up onto solid ground.

"Ow!" Randall fell onto his knees, grabbing his forearm. He looked up as Henry knelt in front of him, a fearful frown on his face.

"Randall." Henry touched the inside of Randall's wrist.

Randall snatched his arm back, "Nothing. It's fine. I'm fine."

Henry glared at him, "Don't insult me."

Randall looked at him in surprise. He never thought Henry would scold him. He didn't even think him capable of raising his voice before today, but he realized in the next moment how patronizing that must be. No wonder he was mad.

"I saw it." Henry held Randall's shoulders, "How long? How long have you been like this? Were you planning to keep it from me forever?"

"Henry, you saw what my father was capable of!" Randall squeezed his eyes shut, and two more tears fell down, "I failed everyone! I could really have died that day, and what would you have done!? What if my father had found me again!? What if he had gotten to me before the rules started to change!? _What if I had lost you?"_

His voice broke at the end, and Henry grabbed him in a big hug, "Randall, you are my best friend. The past is in the past. You don't have to do everything. You did your best, and it easily could have gone wrong, but if it had, it wouldn't have been your fault." Henry pulled away, his eyes holding a thin coat of tears that pooled beneath his eyelids, "But guess what? You're fine. We're all fine. You're okay, and so am I."

Randall wiped his tears away, finally feeling as if he had enough oxygen.

"Hershel." Henry caught his gaze, subtly touching two fingers to his forearm, "Did you know about...?"

Hershel gazed off into the canyon before he nodded.

Henry took each of Randall's hands to help him stand up, "Please. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. We can figure this out. You're one of us now, alright?"

Randall nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Jeez, I don't know what came over me, I just..."

Luke stood beside Henry, looking up with understanding, "Are you still upset about Claire?"

Randall sighed, "Yes. I can't help it. Being close to home again and still having that fresh in my mind...you would have liked Claire, Henry. Angela."

Angela gave him a hug, "Try not to self-destruct on us again, alright?"

Randall hugged her back, "I'll try."

When Angela stepped away again, Hershel took Randall's hand, and Randall gave it a grateful squeeze.

"Everyone!"

Descole, all decked out in their mask and feathered cape, landed beside the small group.

"Let's go. The true mask of chaos is within our grasp."

***


	17. Chapter 17

Hershel swept his flashlight back and forth across the walls, Randall doing the same beside him. Akbadain had been excavated so many times that he couldn't believe it was the same place. He was lucky that puzzles could easily be copied and collected, or these ruins would have been lost to time.

Dahlia held Flora's hand as they walked, Luke standing at the back of the group to make sure they stayed safe. Clark and Brenda walked passively. Henry and Angela had their arms around each other.

Luke stopped, "Everyone, wait one second."

Aurora had fallen behind. She was staring into an old machine, practically a pile of dust after so long being neglected.

"Aurora." Luke took her arm, "We shouldn't be separated. Let's go."

She didn't move, though. She simply stared at the ancient machine before the glow in her eyes subsided.

"I used to spend a lot of time here before I was sealed away." Aurora knelt among the rubble, "This machine...it gave me my powers. I still remember it now, as if it happened yesterday."

Her fingers brushed the surface of the pod in the center of the machine, and it crumbled beneath her touch.

"Be careful." Descole briskly walked to her side, "If we handle this machine carefully, we may be able to study it."

Aurora retracted her hand, sighing in such a defeated manner.

"Nevermind." Aurora stood, "You will find the ultimate secret of the Azran soon enough."

The way she said it didn't sound reassuring in the slightest, but she allowed Luke and Descole to lead her back on the path.

"Be careful." Hershel held the brim of his hat in one hand, "The terrain will only get more treacherous from here."

Randall frowned as a light appeared at the end of their path, "Hersh."

"Yes?" he looked forward, and stopped just before reaching the next room. Just inside was an old brown stain, standing out starkly from the white rock and green tiles.

It was the robot mummy room.

Hershel's hand went up to where he knew the scar on his arm was, "Oh."

"Why has nobody cleaned this up by now?" Randall dragged his foot through the stain, and it cracked.

"Something like this would not be on our priority list." Henry inspected it, "Oh, wait...Hershel, is this...?"

Hershel hadn't been here in twenty years. He was not in his right mind after he'd been stabbed, so this was the first time he'd seen it with a clear head. He saw how it stretched from near the center of the room to the edge, indicating where Randall had dragged him to their backpacks in order to perform first aid.

He decided not to dwell on it, "Nevermind. Let's keep going."

Randall and Henry shared a glance.

By the time they'd made it to the end where the treasure used to be, Randall and Hershel were huddled close to each other. There was no running water this time, just that deep chasm that Randall had almost fallen into, and a bit of scaffolding along the edge where workers were descending on rope ladders. There were also torches all along the bottom of the chasm, but it was still mostly too dark to see much of anything.

"Ah..." Randall clicked off his flashlight, "There's the staircase..."

Hershel blinked in the sudden sunlight, "Yes, I see it."

Randall blew a stray hair from his face, "Descole, please tell me the mask isn't in this chasm."

"Well, if it was anywhere up here, these search parties would have found it by now." Descole stepped to the edge, bending at their hips to peer down, "It doesn't appear as if this area has been explored too much. I wonder why."

Aurora knelt down by the edge to cast her blue light into the chasm. It disappeared into the darkness, "Oh my..."

"What is it, my dear?" Hershel watched the light fizzle out.

"There's a river down there." Aurora brushed a sparkle off her sleeve, "All these torches will blow out in no time. It's likely freezing cold."

Randall tapped his foot, "Do we have any idea where this river leads?"

"Oh I don't know, Randall." Descole gave an exaggerated shrug, their voice dripping with sarcasm, "An underground river that has gone undiscovered for god knows how long in a place were trekking inwards on foot is not an opt-!"

"Okay! I get it! I'm an idiot! Now lay off, would you!?"

Randall and Descole stared each other down, the former's face red from anger. Descole dropped it first, leaning over the chasm again with their hand on their chin.

"In any case, this will not be an easy task. I will make certain we fly under Targent's radar, but I can do little else. There isn't enough room for fancy machines, so the only way forward is down, so to speak."

Dahlia gently took Descole's arm, pulling them back until they were looking at her, "Descole. We don't need you right now."

They seemed shocked at first, but then they pulled their hat low over their mask.

"We don't need fancy machines or brute force or callused indifference." Dahlia placed her hand on their cheek, "We need someone who is careful. Someone with a solid plan. Someone who will care if we get hurt." she placed her other hand on their shoulder, beneath the cape, "Right now, we need Desmond Sycamore."

Descole was quiet at first, but then they gestured for her to step back. Tearing off the disguise, they placed a pair of glasses on their face, and suddenly, Desmond had appeared before them, a bright smile on his face.

Dahlia gave him a hug, and he reciprocated, "Thank you, my dear. My head was muddled there for a moment, but I'm alright now."

Randall was oddly touched by the display. He still didn't know how he felt about the whole Descole/Desmond situation, but he chose not to question it for the moment. By the time Desmond drew back, he was still looking very tired, but he had more color in his face. He gazed at Dahlia with such a smile, one that Randall had never seen on him before. It was one Randall knew, however. One he had seen on other people before without knowing it was possible on Desmond.

_I missed you._

Randall saluted at them good-naturedly, "If you two lovebirds are done, then how are we supposed to get down without breaking any bones?"

Desmond stooped down to give Dahlia a kiss on her cheek before addressing Randall, "I am unsure. Obviously, we can't descend down a slope as there isn't any, however, there must still be a way that keeps everyone intact. Wait here."

He carefully climbed up the wall, moving with familiar agility, a plan already forming in his head. It didn't seem like a great idea, but...

_Well,_ Desmond thought to himself with a grin, _It's so crazy, it just might work._

***

Randall tugged on the rope a few times to gauge its sturdiness. Desmond had managed to snag a few rope ladders, which he'd secured to the rock above them. Randall hesitated, but he put his full weight on the ladder. It creaked, but it held just fine.

Randall eyed the group, some of whom were nervous, very young, or wearing dresses, "Obviously, not everyone will be able to go down this way. Are you sure there is no alternative?"

Desmond set up the next rope ladder beside the first, "We can't drill into the rock, or we risk a cave in. We could try following the river underground, but nobody even knew there was a river down there to the point where we have no reliable maps. If we make a flying machine small enough to fit in through this bottle-neck of an entrance, it won't be strong enough to carry a person, or even a sturdy flashlight. And as you can tell, this place is teeming with Targent agents, so many of those plans fall through for that reason as well."

Randall shrugged in Hershel's direction, who in turn thought about the conundrum himself.

"This isn't an easy puzzle." Hershel gestured towards the group, "Aurora needs to come with us. Her eyesight and ability to make light is invaluable, plus the many other things she can do. As for everyone else, well, we probably shouldn't bring too many people down. Not until we can see what's down there."

Randall tapped his temple as Desmond landed beside him, "I see. Aurora, maybe you should go down first. Scope out the area, you know?"

Aurora eyed the spindly ladder warily, "Um. I don't know."

"I'll go down with you." Randall took her hand as he gave a shallow bow, "I mean, if I've learned anything from Hersh, it's that a gentleman always helps a lady."

Hershel's smile was amused, "I'd hesitate to call you a gentleman, Randall, but I'm sure she appreciates the sentiment."

Aurora laughed.

"Aw, Hershel..." Randall pretended to pout, "I'm hurt. You don't think I'm a gentleman?"

"I think you are." Aurora reached into her pocket for a ponytail holder, "If that's any consolation, I mean."

_Mission accomplished._ Aurora seemed bolder now than she was before, "Aha. See, Hersh? The lady disagrees. What say you?"

Hershel shrugged, "I say that she is trying to cheer you up."

"A lady knows a gentleman, does she not?"

"In theory, yes."

"In theory?"

"Not the way you describe it."

"But the lady knows when she has been given an offer. If she was truly offended, would it not be more obvious?"

"Perhaps, but a true lady knows how to flatter."

"Jeez, Hersh! You're too good at this!" Randall laughed, turning to address Aurora, "But seriously? I can help you get down there, and then it won't be so scary."

Aurora finished tying her hair up, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

Randall stood next to the ladder, holding his arm out for her. She wrapped both arms around his shoulders, and he carefully gathered up her legs and skirt in one arm, holding her securely to his body with the other.

"Are you comfortable?"

She looked over his shoulder at the chasm, her grasp tighter than it needed to be.

"I am still frightened."

"That's okay. It's only natural." Randall let go of her, but she stayed in place, her legs draped over his extended arm, "The only reason I have no fear is because I'm brash. Isn't that right, Hershel?"

Hershel rolled his eyes, "You are afraid, you just don't have that thing in your brain that tells you to stop."

"I can't back down from a challenge, Hersh!" Randall put one foot on the ladder before seeing the sheer depth of the chasm, so far down that not even sunlight could reach it, even in the middle of the day, "Uhh...can I get a kiss before I go?"

"Haha! See, you _are_ afraid." Hershel put his hand on the ladder above Randall's, "It's okay, though. Fear is only natural, _right?"_

Randall smiled before leaning in. Aurora could see it in her peripheral vision, the way their lips intersected, slightly tilting their heads so they didn't hit their noses. It didn't last long, maybe a few seconds at most, but she was fascinated by it nonetheless.

"Ah." Randall sighed, "That never gets old. Sorry Aurora. You got front row seats to that, didn't you?"

"I don't mind." Aurora said simply, "I have just never seen this kind of affection before. Physical intimacy was not very important to the Azran people."

Randall lifted one eyebrow before sneaking a kiss onto her forehead. Her eyes glowed slightly.

"Oh, so...this type of affection, it can be platonic as well?"

"You bet!" Randall winked at her, "You seemed intrigued enough. How does it feel?"

Aurora hugged him tighter from her place over his torso, "It was nice."

"Cool." Randall tested the ladder with both his and Aurora's weight on it, "There are people who don't like it, but I am not one of them. You'll have to let me know if I ever make you uncomfortable."

"I will keep that in mind."

Satisfied that the ladder would hold, Randall began to descend, "I can't hold onto you anymore, so make sure you hold onto me instead."

"I will." they had just disappeared over the cliff face when Aurora called back up, "And for the record, Professor, a true gentleman puts a lady's comfort above all else. Randall is a gentleman, and you were wrong."

Hershel's laughter from above them was enough confirmation that he had heard her. She smiled in satisfaction.

She had previously underestimated how it might feel for people to care about her. Not as messenger of the Azran people, but as Aurora.

Randall continued to climb into the darkness until just a dot of light shone above them, the blue sky the only thing visible through it. Aurora could tell how dark it was of course, but despite this, she could still see it all perfectly. She had no idea how that could be, as photons were needed to perceive sight, but if the Azran could give her healing powers, surely night vision would be easy.

"Okay, I can't see anything down here." Randall had slowed down considerably, placing each hand and foot as if there might be nothing there, "Can you still see?"

"Yes. It is dimmer, but I can see."

"Okay. You'll be my eyes then." Randall shivered in the dark cave, "Yeesh. Are you cold?"

Aurora watched her breath fog up in the air, "Are you?"

"Yes!" he paused on the ladder, "What the heck were the Azranians up to to give you such powers of...not being cold!?"

Aurora passed her powers of warmth to him, and he sighed in relief.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that." Randall continued their descent, "Sorry! I should have just asked."

"It's alright." Aurora gazed down below them, "Randall, the river is close."

Randall gazed into the darkness, but predictably saw nothing, "Should I stop?"

"Not yet." Aurora reached out with her power again, "There. Go a little closer. I think I see something."

He complied, continuing down the ladder until he heard the tell-tale sound of rushing water. He had been hearing it the whole time, it was just far enough away that he could ignore it, but it was now roaring in his ears. He heard Aurora say, "Stop!" just as he felt the cold spray of water on his ankles.

"How far is it?" Randall said.

"It's a little farther, but if you go any farther than this you will get wet." Aurora's head swiveled all around as she took note of everything in the cave, "It appears as if there's a walkway to one side. I am unsure how safe it is, but it may be our only shot."

"Is it a man-made structure, or is it all rock?"

"It's rock, although it's too far in for these ladders to reach it..." Aurora took another long look at the cavern, "Alright. I have seen enough. You can climb back up now."

"Awesome. I'm sick of being in total darkness." Randall began the long climb upwards, "That wasn't so scary now, was it?"

"No, it was fine." Aurora rested her head on Randall's shoulder, "Though, I don't think it would have been alone. Thank you."

"No problem." Randall climbed as far as half of the way out before he said, "Hey, Aurora?"

"Yes?"

Randall paused as the cliff side came into view, "Do you really think I'm a gentleman?"

Aurora smirked, knowing he couldn't see her, "Do you want to be?"

"I don't know." he continued climbing, "That's always been Hershel's thing. He's always been very considerate and polite. He's proud of it, too. I just don't know if I'm gentleman material. I get ahead of myself too often, and I'm not afraid of coming across as rude. I try to stick to good moral principles whenever I can, but I feel like you need to be presentable and have less of a short temper than me to be a gentleman."

Aurora watched the colors shift from blue to red as they got higher, "Not necessarily. I've seen the Professor snap at people before without meaning to, but nobody ever questions his status as a gentleman. I think it's more about trying to be conscious of other people's needs and adjusting accordingly. You asked if I was uncomfortable, and you told me I should tell you if I feel uncomfortable. That seems quite gentlemanly, does it not?"

Randall chuckled quietly, blinking when the sunlight suddenly hit his eyes, "I suppose you're right. Thanks, Aurora."

"You're welcome."

Randall stepped back onto the rock, and the conversation was over.

***


	18. Chapter 18

"Ah, there you are." Desmond held out his arms in case they lost their balance, "I was beginning to fear you would never come back up."

"No, we're okay." Randall settled Aurora on the rock, "I think Aurora has a good picture of the area now. What do you think we should do?"

Aurora gazed over the expectant faces of the group, "I am unsure. It does not look very safe, however I did see a walkway along one side of the river. It's far beneath the solid rock, so no ladder from here will reach it."

"Maybe there's still a way to reach it somehow." Desmond held onto one of the ladders to peer down, though it was still too dark to see, "Where was it?"

"Over there." Aurora pointed beneath the left side of the bottleneck entrance, "The river runs underneath us towards that chamber. If we can get to the walkway, we may be able to follow the river until the path ends."

"That doesn't sound safe at all." Hershel said.

"There may still be a way." Desmond pulled a headlamp from inside his pocket, "If you can point out to me where the path is, I may be able to swing the ladder close enough to anchor it into the ceiling."

Randall eyed the headlamp, "Wait, how long have you had that?"

"Desmond, that's ridiculous!" Hershel pushed him away from the edge, "If you fail, you could fall into the river!"

"But we need this mask! I don't see _you_ coming up with any ideas!"

"If we can't reach it, then maybe Targent can't either! Some things are not meant to be discovered!"

"This isn't about discovery! It's about uncovering this secret before Targent can have it!" Desmond's eyes flickered between Descole and Desmond, as if the two personas were fighting each other, "Bronev destroyed everything I had! Twice! Almost three times! He did it for this treasure, and I'll be damned if I let him have it!"

Hershel sighed, pulling his hat down over his eyes.

"I lost you that day, Hershel." Desmond tugged on the curls that framed his head, "I lost everything. Our mother and father, my only brother, my true self, even my beloved Robert...Bronev did it so that he could have this treasure. I can't let him take that from me too."

Flora placed a hand on Dahlia's arm, and Dahlia took it to give it a gentle squeeze.

Hershel took each of Desmond's shoulders in his hands, then he pulled him in for a hug, "You didn't lose me, Desmond. You saved me. You gave me your name so I could go and live my own life. It is just as I feared. Targent has taken even your sense of identity, because you have dedicated every part of yourself to destroying them. Didn't I once warn you about this? About falling so far into thoughts of revenge that you don't even have brainpower left to find personal happiness?"

"This will make me happy, Hershel. It will. I know it will."

"No it won't." Hershel held him out at arms-length, his gaze fixed on him, "Trust me. All you will feel is lost. Destroying Targent won't bring our family back. It won't bring Robert back, and it won't prevent you from losing anything in the future. You will simply lose your only purpose, and then what will you do? How can you reconcile such a loss as everything that ever motivated you?"

Desmond stared at the ground, his whole frame shaking from repressed grief and trauma. He swallowed, trying to force those thoughts to the back of his mind, but they wouldn't go away. Not now.

"Hershel. Please. _Please."_ Desmond clasped his hands, "This will be it. I can tell. I've come too far to simply give up. Targent won't just harm me in the future. They will harm everyone. We cannot let them roam free, we just can't."

Hershel glared at him, "Isn't that what you said nearly twenty years-!"

"Don't stop me now! Not when I'm so close! I'll do anything to find this answer! Anything! I'll go down there by myself! You cannot tell me to stop when my goal is close enough that I can almost taste it!"

Hershel crossed his arms, his brow twitching. He almost looked as if he was about to burst a blood vessel, but he was trying very hard to keep his anger contained. Randall was impressed. Hershel didn't get angry very easily.

Finally, Hershel lifted his head, "Fine, but I don't think you'll like the treasure that the Azranians are hiding. It is not something anyone wants, including Bronev. Perhaps that will be enough revenge for you?"

Desmond stared at him with wide eyes. He cleared his throat, "Perhaps, but you cannot stop me, Hershel. I always find a way."

Dahlia snapped, "Forget it, Professor. You're only wasting your breath."

Hershel stepped aside, "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"I would never." Desmond mounted the headlamp to his forehead, "I will be right back."

He jumped, sliding down the rope of the ladder with one hand loosely around it so he would follow where it went.

Aurora peered into the darkness, "Can he even see?"

"What was the point of us going down there if he was just going to use a headlamp anyway!?" Randall tapped his foot, _"Bastard!"_

"We didn't know what was down there." Flora said, "That headlamp can't be very bright."

"I guess that's true, but he could have at least offered it!"

"Could you all please be quiet?" Hershel pinched the bridge of his nose, "I have a headache."

The group fell silent.

Randall was behind Hershel, so he slowly tiptoed across the rock, one finger to his lips. Luke mouthed a _What are you doing?_ but mostly they just watched on, curious about what he was going to do.

Finally, when Randall was just behind him, he quickly wrapped both arms around his waist and kissed his cheek.

"Ah!" Hershel gasped, "Randall!"

"What? You gave me the perfect opportunity!"

Hershel pushed him away, "Can't you ever just let me be angry?"

"No. You said it yourself, Hersh. I don't have that thing in my brain that tells me when to stop."

Hershel deadpanned. Randall's playful smirk just grew.

"You are insufferable, Randall."

"I love you too, Hersh."

Hershel finally dropped his anger, a steady laugh escaping him.

"There you are." Randall gave him a pat on the back, "You don't feel like yourself when you're angry, you know that?"

"Well..." Hershel leaned back into the wall of the tunnel, "Desmond just drives me crazy sometimes. He's been ignoring me since I was still Theodore. Even now, he's so sure that he is right and I am wrong despite how...I don't know, it's madness!"

Randall watched Aurora look down at the spot where Desmond had disappeared, "I don't blame you. Remember how much me and Descole used to fight?"

"I couldn't forget that even if I tried."

Randall scrutinized Hershel from the corner of his vision. He knew Hershel really well, even more than he knew himself in some ways, so he didn't miss the way Hershel furrowed his brow. The way the corners of his mouth turned down. The way he seemed to slouch, like he was trying to hide.

Before he could say anything though, Hershel turned so his face was hidden under his hat, touching his temple with gentle fingers.

"I am afraid."

Randall tried to catch his gaze, "Afraid of what?"

Hershel took the brim of his hat, further hiding under it, "Of the end. How long have we been going after Targent? How much of Desmond is lost because he had such a one-track mind? I truly believe that this Azranian treasure is not one that any of us want. If we fail, it could have such terrible consequences. I just don't know what to do."

Randall placed both hands on Hershel's shoulder in a kind of side-hug, his head resting beside Hershel's so it was touching his cheek.

"You don't need to worry about Desmond." Dahlia said, "He does have a personality and a life outside of chasing Targent."

Hershel looked up at her. She had both hands crossed in front of her, the faintest of gray in her blonde hair catching the sunlight. She smiled patiently before she continued.

"Desmond is an academic. He's passionate about learning and teaching. His biggest passion is mechanics. His machines are his pride and joy. He's patient, and he's a good listener. He's quiet most days, but on days when he's inspired, he won't shut up. He gets too excited to sleep sometimes, but most of the time he knows how to keep a schedule. He only wears glasses because he likes to do the lens flare thing to be dramatic. He also loves pie, no matter how badly it was baked, and he never forgets important things."

Hershel began to smile, straightening up until he was fully upright again.

"One time, he was too restless to go to sleep, so he built a castle out of rubber tubing and filled it with air. I woke up the next morning seeing him flying outside in a makeshift hot air balloon! He landed it the yard and it immediately caught fire, so he's not allowed to build things past one am anymore." Dahlia laughed at the memory, "Desmond will not lose everything if Targent falls, don't you worry. He has himself, even if he doesn't believe it."

Hershel nodded, "I should have asked from the start! Thank you Dahlia, that makes me feel much better."

"You're welcome, Professor."

"Guys!" Aurora stood up, "Guys, Desmond is gone!"

"What!?" Randall held her shoulders, bringing her away from the edge, "Hey, tell me what happened."

"I saw him down there, but he isn't coming back up! I...

_"I think he fell in the river!"_

***


	19. Chapter 19

Caution be damned. If Desmond fell into that rushing water, he may already be dead. Aurora guessed that he would have less than five minutes before suffering hypothermia if he didn't drown first, so if they waited it would definitely be too late.

Randall came down the slope, "Desmond had a backup plan! If we use his prototype flying machine, we can bring everyone down safely!"

"But it's just a prototype!" Dahlia said, "If we use it, we could die too!"

"Do you have a better plan!?" Luke said, turning towards Randall, "How many people can fit in the machine!?"

Randall nodded towards him, "Just three. I should go first, I want to make sure it's safe."

"Then I need to go too!" Aurora said, "I can see perfectly down there!"

Randall looked over the cliff, "Dahlia, does someone need to pilot it?"

"Yes. That's part of why it's a prototype."

"I'll fly it." Randall said, "Don't worry, the machine has headlights. Aurora, you need to tell us everything you see once you're down there, alright? Even though we have lights."

"Of course!"

"Randall." Hershel pulled him briefly aside, "Please, be careful."

Randall gave him a quick kiss, "I swear to you, I will be as careful as I possibly can."

The flying machine was up in the desert. Seeing as no proper path up there existed anymore, Randall had to be careful in getting to it and also in flying it. Luckily, the excavation team had carved a few paths from the bottleneck to the desert, so at least it was possible to get up safely, unlike the first time Hershel and Randall had come here all those years ago. Randall started it up, and it sputtered to life.

"That's it." Randall gripped the controls as Luke and Aurora took their seats, "Targent knows we're here now. We can't waste any time."

He flew into the air, overcorrecting his trajectory so they nearly crashed into the cliff face.

On the ground, Hershel covered his face. _Why am I with this idiot again?_

"Yikes! Sorry!" Randall steadied the machine, "Okay, Aurora. Warn me if I'm about to crash."

Aurora and Luke had their arms around each other.

"Randall, if you kill my son, _I'll kill you!"_ Clark yelled out to him.

"It would only be fair!" Randall called back in reply.

"Luke!" Brenda yelled in turn, "You're grounded until the day you die!"

Luke trembled, "Sounds about right!"

"Alright, everyone!" Randall steadied their course, "Here we go!"

Aurora kept a forcefield around the whole ship until Randall had gotten the hang of it, and he landed on the path inside, suctioned legs keeping the ship from falling into the river.

"Okay, Aurora." Randall started breathing again, "You go with Luke, and keep him safe. He can't see in here."

"Of course."

Randall handed Luke a flashlight before he piloted the pod out of the cave, and then the two were alone.

Luke sneezed, "I bet my parents will be next..."

"Are you cold?" Aurora held his hand.

"Ahh..." Luke leaned into her arm, "How do you do that?"

Aurora led him down the path, "I don't know. It's not something I think about most of the time. Did you know the last time I used this power on you, you were three years old?"

"I was?" Luke thought back, clicking on his flashlight, "I guess that makes sense. In my memory, I've always just known you."

"Your parents feared you would freeze, so your father asked me to hold you. You were much lighter than I was expecting you to be. You were sleeping for much of that trip."

Luke stumbled in the dark, "Whoa!"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Aurora caught him before he fell, creating a light in the palm of her free hand, "You can't see. Ugh! I need to keep that in mind."

"I cannot believe you can see anything in here." Luke was careful with each step as he swiveled his light all around, "All I see clearly is the entrance where we came from."

"Okay, Luke. I don't see Desmond anywhere around here." Aurora cupped her hands around her mouth, "Desmond! Are you okay!? Can you hear me!?"

"You watch for Randall!" Luke headed into the darkness, "I'll call out to Desmond!"

"Okay."

Clark and Dahlia came down next. Luke got a scolding for being brash while Dahlia joined in the search. Henry and Angela were next after that, then Hershel. Pretty soon, Randall had taken one last trip to carry every flashlight he could steal from Targent before shutting it off and handing out the lights.

 _"Desmond!"_ Hershel called into the darkness, "Randall, what if his body-!"

"Then we'll find it. _Desmond!"_ Randall pushed past him, "We keep going. We have to. Nobody will die on my watch."

Hershel continued with his friends into the darkness, the path becoming more rocky overtime, _"Desmond!"_

_"Hershel!"_

Aurora gasped, "Over there!" she lifted her skirts to run, "Desmond, are you okay!?"

He was holding onto a stalagmite that jutted out of the roaring river. He was completely soaked, his glasses missing, and his teeth were chattering violently.

"Desmond!" Aurora realized with a shock that Desmond's lips were blue, "You can't see me, can you!? Everyone! Over here!"

Desmond flinched when the light landed on him, "It's nothing. This was..."

He stopped talking as his grip weakened. He slipped.

"Desmond!" Hershel reached out, but the temperature of the spray cut through his sleeve and he retracted his arm.

"I can reach him!" Aurora reached forward, and her sleeve was instantly soaked, "Hold onto me, Professor!"

"He'll be slippery!" Hershel took hold of her ankles, "Luke! The light!"

He pointed the light at Aurora, where Desmond could see. With Hershel holding her legs, she threw herself outwards, grabbing the stalagmite with one hand.

"Grab me!" she said.

Desmond tried to reach out one arm, but his grip slipped, "I c-c-can't!"

Aurora reached farther, "I can grab you, but you need to reach out. I will catch you." she grabbed his arm, holding tightly so he didn't slip, "I will not drop you. You have my word."

Desmond looked up at the group, his eyes red and raw, the cold lessened by Aurora's touch.

He adjusted his grip, and he reached-!

Desmond slipped off the rock, but Aurora grasped both of his arms, "Professor!"

Hershel yanked her back up, and Randall grabbed Desmond to hoist him up onto the rock. Desmond collapsed, his arms around himself, shivering uncontrollably.

Randall tore Desmond's jacket off, "You're going to freeze." he took off his own jacket and forced Desmond into it, "Are you okay? Do you still feel cold?"

Desmond didn't answer. Dahlia wrapped him up in a huge hug, Aurora on his other side to transfer more warmth.

"Careful." Randall placed a hand to Desmond's forehead, "We don't want to warm him up too fast. He could go into shock."

Dahlia ran her fingers through Desmond's sopping wet hair, "How do you know first aid, Randall?"

"Oh, well, I went on a lot of adventures when I was young, and I used to get myself hurt a lot, so bandaging myself was always easier than getting Henry to do it." 

Henry rolled his eyes, "You were always bad at it, you know?"

"Hush, Henry." Randall covered Henry's mouth, "Nobody needs to know that."

Henry rose an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you're hurt, my dear." Desmond lifted Dahlia's arm.

She winced, "Oh, yes, I tripped in the darkness, but I'm fine."

"It doesn't appear to be bleeding, at least." Desmond ran a thumb over the cut on her arm, "Wait, what's...?"

He pulled the skin back, and a shiny metallic surface was visible beneath the cut. Dahlia stared at it. Desmond couldn't tear his eyes away. The cavern settled into an uncomfortable silence, aside from the rushing water. Nobody said a word.

Flora pried Desmond's hands away from Dahlia's arm, pulling a bandage from her dress pocket to place over the wound. She looked away, though she could still feel the stares from everyone else.

Desmond did not become Descole, but his eyes did carry an odd air, like he was both in shock and lost in thought.

"Flora." his voice was carefully levelled, "What was that?"

Flora tucked a stray hair behind her ear, twisting a lock from her ponytail in her fingers.

"Dahlia is..." Flora looked up at her step-mother, "...a robot."

Dahlia didn't reply.

"What." Desmond tugged on his hair again, "What are you talking about. She can't be a robot, she's..."

Flora shook her head, "When my Papa died, he left behind a lot of money. He didn't want people to harass me over it, especially before I could find a new guardian, so he built a village and commissioned an old friend to fill it with inhabitants. Dahlia is meant to resemble my Mama, before she died."

Desmond buried his face in his hands.

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but Bruno told me that one day, I may have to explain everything. These are robots that are just as conscious as real humans. They are seamless, but not foolproof. Don't worry, though. A cut like this will heal on its own, and it will leave no scar."

Desmond's harsh breathing filled the space.

"Dahlia." his gaze was hurt, "Why did you never..."

He locked eyes with her, noting her shocked expression.

"Oh my god! You didn't know, did you!?"

Dahlia gave a slight shake of her head.

Desmond let his head fall, staring into his lap.

"H-how..." he curled his hands into fists. He shook like a leaf, _"It's not..."_

Nobody said anything for awhile. The new information seeped into everyone, slowly but surely. Dahlia held both arms close to her chest, a few tears gathering in her eyes.

Desmond finally looked up at her, sucking in a breath between his teeth, _"Dahlia...my darling..."_ he took her hands in his. His hair was still wet, and it was curling up the way Hershel's tended to when it was longer, "You are real, aren't you? You have to be..."

"I...I don't know anymore." a few tears fell from her face, spilling mascara down her cheeks.

"Something is in you." he pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe away some of her tears, "Whatever it is, there is something real that you have. I've seen it myself every time you talk me down from my lapses."

"So..." she held his hand to her cheek, "You don't care that I'm...?"

"No." Desmond rested his forehead on hers, "I don't care that you're a robot. You have not changed, and the Dahlia I know is undeniably real. You're even more human than I am, in a way. I mean, you still love me, don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then why should I care?" Desmond closed his eyes, "I never thought I could love again after I lost Robert, but you proved me wrong. I didn't think it was possible to love someone this much." he smiled sadly, "I mean, this is kind of better, isn't it? If you're ever seriously injured, I can just fix you."

She laughed.

"I'm not sure Bruno would like that." Flora tapped her cheek, "He doesn't like other people messing with stuff he builds."

"Well then, maybe I'll just have to pay this Bruno a visit." Desmond let his hands drop, "I love you so much, Dahlia."

"I love you too, Desmond."

She kissed his lips, and he practically melted against her.

"Hey, Hersh." Randall took the brim of Hershel's hat to lift it up a bit, "That's us."

"Oh?" Hershel readjusted his hat again, "Am I Dahlia or Desmond?"

"Desmond, obviously. I'm too fabulous to not be Dahlia."

Hershel shoved him, "You are not doing this now!"

Randall caught himself, leaning on both arms, "Sorry! Couldn't resist."

"Guys!"

All heads turned to Aurora, who carried something in her hands.

"It's...!" Randall scrambled to his feet, "The mask of chaos!"

It glimmered brilliantly, even in the limited light of their flashlights, just as pristine as it was when Randall first found it nearly fifteen years ago.

"We..." Randall laughed, "We got it! After all these years..."

He clutched it to his chest like the most priceless treasure in the world, and yet, they couldn't help but feel that everything it took to make it here had not been worth it.

***


	20. Chapter 20

The sun had completely set by the time they made it out. Since they had alerted Targent, they had to wait for the search parties to pass, so Aurora spent a lot of time just sitting in the middle of the circle and making sure everyone had contact with her, since it only got colder as the sun got further away. The stars were visible by the time they came out of hiding and tried to assess how they were going to get out. They decided to simply wait long enough for Targent to move on, and then Desmond used the flying machine to bring everyone up two at a time before all of them walked all the way back to town.

Henry unlocked his house, yawning into the back of his hand, "We have two guest rooms with two king-sized beds each. That's eight people. Try and figure that out."

Luke stumbled into the foyer and collapsed on the sofa. He was asleep in seconds.

Angela pointed out each room before she and Henry went to bed. Clark and Brenda took the first bed, and Desmond and Dahlia took the second. Flora got a bed all to herself because Luke had decided to opt out of the beds entirely and Aurora insisted she wasn't tired, which only left one empty bed for Hershel and Randall.

Hershel, Randall, and Flora all had the same room, but Flora had drawn up the privacy wall between the two beds, so for all intents and purposes, the two men were alone.

Randall closed the door, stretching his arms out in front of him. He usually wore a white dress shirt with a black pair of slacks, a jacket, and a purple tie, but he had changed into a sensible purple sweater and sweatpants. He always wore socks to bed, though he kicked them off quite frequently in his sleep. Hershel remembered that from uni.

Hershel took his high-collared jacket and shoes off, but he left on his long-sleeved orange polo shirt and brown pants. He sat on the edge of the bed, feeling something fluttering in his stomach.

"Hey, Hersh." Randall lay on the bed, "Wow, this thing is comfy..."

Hershel tossed his jacket over the end table, one hand on his hat.

Randall sat up, "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing, I just..."

Randall decided to guess, "You and I haven't shared a bed in a long time, huh? Are you nervous?"

"Well, yes." Hershel turned to face him, "I feel like at this point, it wouldn't be right if we aren't... _married..."_

"Hm." Randall got under the covers, "Does the idea make you uncomfortable?"

"It just doesn't seem proper."

"Yes, but does it make you, _personally,_ uncomfortable?" Randall pointed at him, "Don't take into account what might seem proper for the moment."

Hershel sighed, climbing into the bed and resting his head on the pillow.

"No, it doesn't make me uncomfortable."

Randall gave a nod, "That answers my question."

He pulled the covers up to his neck before reaching out to pull Hershel closer to himself. Hershel locked eyes with him, his hands on Randall's upper back.

"Wow." Randall laughed softly, "You really are nervous."

Hershel leaned his cheek into the pillow, bending the brim of his hat, "You aren't?"

"I don't get nervous."

"Yes you do."

"Well, my answer to nervousness seems to be to dive in without thinking about it? I am unsure how well that technique works, I will get back to you on that one."

He _was_ nervous. Hershel tilted Randall's head back to look at him closer. He was just better at hiding it.

Randall took Hershel's head in his hands, "Just...don't be mad at me if I've fallen out of the bed by morning?"

Hershel watched him, no reply coming to mind, until Randall got even closer to him and he did the only thing he could think of.

He had kissed Randall so many times by now that many of them blurred together in his mind. Quick goodbye kisses, slow romantic kisses, sloppy tired kisses, "I missed you" kisses, but each one of them had still stood out to Hershel somehow. When Randall had a bad day at work, he kissed Hershel with slightly more force than normal. When he was sufficiently exhausted, they didn't last as long, though not through Randall's lack of trying. Even tiny details made a difference sometimes, like if Randall kissed the corner of his mouth first, or if he stood up straighter before going in.

This one couldn't quite compare to those. Randall hugged Hershel's torso so their bodies were pressed against each other. He opened his mouth to gently bite Hershel's lower lip, making him gasp, tongue grazing against teeth. When Randall finally drew away to catch his breath, he lay back against the pillow, but he still held the other close to himself.

Hershel remembered Randall's arms, decorated with lines too pristine to be accidental.

"Randall." Hershel caught Randall's eye, "Are you alright?"

Randall shifted so he could bury his face on Hershel's chest, "I'm okay now. Sorry for falling apart on you."

"It's quite alright, Randall." Hershel twirled a lock of Randall's hair between his fingers, "You don't need to be perfectly composed every moment you're alive. I fall apart too sometimes."

"Yeah, I guess..." Randall ran his hands up and down Hershel's back, "I am okay, though. Maybe I just needed to let that out."

Randall had begun to press his fingers into specific places along Hershel's spine, from the middle of his back to his neck, so Hershel said, "May I ask what you're doing?"

"I'm looking for a pressure point." Randall pressed his ear to Hershel's chest, as if he was listening for something, "You know those places people massage to get rid of headaches and stuff? A lot of people have a place on their body that when you push on it, it will relax them."

Randall went up higher, as far as Hershel's head, and Hershel rolled his eyes, "There's no way that's true."

"No, just wait." Randall felt around Hershel's neck, "I bet it's riiight..."

He pushed two fingers into the back of Hershel's neck, just at the base of his head.

"Ah!" Hershel fell into the touch, every muscle in his body relaxing as he hummed in contentment.

"Aha. I was right." Randall massaged the area, his other hand holding Hershel's head in place, "How is that?"

"Oh my..." Hershel sighed, his eyes closed, "I didn't realize just how tired I was..."

"Yeah?" Randall kept massaging as he talked, "I actually discovered this because of Henry. I was really angry one day because my father was driving me crazy, but Henry pinched my neck and suddenly I was completely relaxed. Apparently he knows a lot about pressure points because of his mom, so I think he prevented me from destroying myself that day."

Hershel was only barely listening, but he weakly nodded anyway.

"I remember, I think this happened about a week before we met, so Henry and I were fifteen? Anyway, he had been working nonstop for about eight hours. I touched his shoulder, and he was so stiff. Every muscle was tense. So I did the only logical thing and pushed on his shoulders until he sat down. He was asleep in about five minutes."

"Wow." Hershel drowsily pushed Randall away until he could think clearly again, "Does that mean you have one too?"

Randall smiled at him inquisitively, "See if you can find it."

Hershel held him close again, searching up his back the way Randall had done for him. He remembered Randall's previous statement, and so he placed his thumb and middle finger beneath Randall's ears and squeezed.

"Ah!" Randall instinctively leaned his head back into the pressure, "Whoa..."

"I take it that was right?"

"Yeah..." Randall squished his face into the pillow, "That's it... _mm..."_

They lapsed into silence after that. Randall appeared to be asleep, so Hershel rolled over to face the wall. His eyelids had never felt so heavy. He was almost afraid to sleep after everything that had happened, but he just couldn't stay awake any longer.

The last thing he registered before falling asleep were the arms around his waist, and the soft kisses on his neck.

***

The sun wasn't quite up yet by the time Hershel opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed in through the curtains at an extreme angle, creating a bright red and orange glow across the room. He felt someone holding him from behind, and the memories of the previous day came flooding back.

He carefully rolled over, breaking Randall's hold on him. Randall still appeared to be sleeping, his hair sticking up in all directions, with his mouth open slightly and his sweater twisted so the sleeves had rolled up in his sleep. Hershel placed a steady hand on Randall's cheek, and Randall's eyes fluttered open.

"Heheh..." he rubbed his eyes, giving a wide yawn, "Good morning, Hersh."

Hershel pushed back Randall's bangs from where they had stuck to his forehead, "Good morning."

Randall scratched his head before snuggling against Hershel again, "I can't believe it. No nightmares. Not even once."

Hershel held him, "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. It was wondrous." Randall rolled onto his back, stretching his arms and legs, "Do we have to go? I just want to stay here."

Hershel lay on his stomach before he noticed that his hat had fallen off sometime in the night, "Tell you what; Once this is all over and we go home, you can move your things into my room. How does that sound?"

Randall grinned blissfully, "That sounds great." he grimaced at the sight of his arms, quickly rolling his sleeves down, "I hope today won't be so bad."

"I hope so too." Hershel sat up, replacing his hat with a yawn, "I haven't slept that well since I first became a professor."

"I worked my usual charm." Randall winked, "That's how good I am."

Hershel just stared at him at first, then he grabbed the pillow and hit him with it.

"Ack! Hey!" Randall laughed as he scrambled out from under the covers, "What was that for!?"

"You always do that!" Hershel dodged Randall's swing of the pillow, "Is it not enough to simply leave something as it is!?"

"Get back here!"

He kept swinging until Hershel was forced to run. He armed himself with another pillow and they took turns swinging, laughing whether their blows connected or not. Hershel was about to swing again when there was a knock at the door.

_"Randall! Hershel! Are you awake!? We're under attack!"_

It was Henry. Hershel and Randall dropped the pillows before opening the door.

"Targent?" Randall said.

"Yes!" Henry held the mask of chaos, "They're here for this, I'm sure! I don't know what to do!"

"Hey, Henry, it's okay." Randall took the mask, "Are they here?"

A crash came from downstairs, along with Angela yelling.

"Okay," Randall took a deep breath, a wicked grin stretching across his face, "I have an idea! Henry, can I borrow a suit?"

***

"Where is it!?" Bronev's deep voice ricocheted off the walls like bullets, "I know you have it! Don't try and hide it!"

"You can't do that!" Angela screamed, "You just broke into my house at seven in the morning and now you think it's okay to demand-!?"

"Give me the mask!" Bronev lifted his hand and two men pointed guns at her, "Give it to me, or suffer the consequences!"

"You have no right to be making demands of us, _Bronev!"_ Descole was there too, a sword in their right hand, "Back off!"

"You have been a thorn in my side for too long, _Descole!"_ Bronev pushed his sunglasses up his nose, "It will be my pleasure to destroy you, as soon as I have that mask!"

"I'll give it to you over my dead body!"

Someone's shoes hit the floor behind Bronev, "You want the mask?"

Bronev whipped his head around, "Who-!?"

A tall man in a white suit with a matching hat and equally white hair. He wore the mask of chaos on his face, obscuring his identity.

He tapped his cane on the ground, "Then come and get it!"

He flew into the air as Bronev yelled, _"Get him!"_

Once they were gone, Hershel appeared beside Angela, "Huh. He isn't bad at that."

"Hershel!" Descole hissed, "How could you just give the mask to him like that!? Whoever that is will not be able to..."

He stopped when Hershel's easy smile didn't go away. Once he knew he wouldn't be interrupted, he put a finger to his lips, "What makes you think I gave him the mask?"

Descole's mouth dropped open.

"Ha! Is that the best you can do!?" the masked gentleman leapt over buildings as if it took no effort at all, "If you're going to put on a show, at least allow me to return the favor!"

"Just give me the mask!" Bronev lunged for him, but he dodged, "Give it to me now!"

"Well that's no fun, is it?" the masked gentleman collapsed his cane, standing in the air as if on a tightrope, "Just watch. I promise the show will be worth the price of admission!"

He flew towards the ground, landing on the biggest building in the main square. There was no parade going on since it was daytime, but it was still quite crowded. The masked gentleman gave a bow, speaking in a booming voice that carried all across the city.

"One, two, three, four..." he threw his arms to the side as a magnificent pair of wings appeared on his back, "Did you miss me, Monte d'Or?"

All eyes were on him, especially every agent from Targent. Especially Bronev. The old man looked ready to explode.

"I know last I was here, this city was not nearly so magnificent." he continued, "Perhaps I can..." he opened his suit jacket, and a flock of white birds flew out, "...add to the magic!"

A few gasps rang out as the crowd marvelled at the trick.

"Ah, but that was a simple trick. I'm sure many of you have seen something like that before." the masked gentleman struck a match next, holding it up so the light danced across the gold surface of the mask, "How about something more impressive?"

He threw the match at the ground, and the whole rooftop burst into flames. It engulfed him, blowing out and leaving no trace that anything had burned in the first place. He was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared with the fire.

"Ehem. Over here."

He was standing atop the fountain in the center of the square. He was on one foot, standing on his toes as the top of the fountain was thin.

He spun his cane, pointing it into the crowd, "Ah, but that is not my only trick. You see, I can do so much more than that."

He waved his cane, and a burst of colorful flowers emerged from the ground, settling into a rainbow of blossoms between the sidewalks.

"Still not enough?" the gentleman stepped down onto the pavement, tilting his hat as he landed, "Don't lie. I can see it. The anticipation is simply killing you."

 _"Get him!"_ Bronev sent every agent in his direction, _"I need that mask! Take it from him!"_

A plume of smoke appeared around the masked gentleman, evaporating in the same moment, and suddenly, he was gone.

"Now, that's not very polite." the gentleman was balanced on a lamppost about a block away, "At least wait for the show to be over before you give an encore!"

"How are you doing that!?" Bronev demanded, "What are you doing!? I need that mask!"

"Well, that just won't do now, will it?" the gentleman twirled down the length of the lamppost before landing on the ground, "I still have a show to finish, don't I?"

He flapped the wings on his back, and he flew into the air. The wings disappeared, and he was walking on air again. He took off his hat and threw it into the crowd. It landed upside down on the pavement, and the audience watched it, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Tell me." the gentleman landed beside the hat, "This city was built on a thousand wishes. Wishes for power, wealth, an absence of illness, a lost loved one returning from an uncertain war. If I could grant just one of these wishes, I would solidify this place as a city of miracles."

He held out his hand to a young girl in the crowd. She looked very ill. She was in a wheelchair, and she had a breathing tube in her nose. Upon the gentleman's invitation, she pushed her wheelchair forward. The gentleman knelt down, taking her hand with a gentle touch.

"Tell me, my dear." he said softly, "What ails you?"

She swallowed, whispering in a hoarse voice, _"Pneumonia."_

"Pneumonia. Such a sad fate." the gentleman lifted his hat from the ground, "Such a tragedy, and so young too."

She looked away.

"I don't normally do this. It is a great power, after all." he stood up, holding his hat out to her, "But I believe I can help you. I want you to reach into my hat. Whatever you pull out will grant your wish."

Her eyes widened, and she quickly plunged her arm into the hat. A soft blue glow surrounded the girl, and with a start, she pulled her hand back out.

In her grasp was a single red rose, stripped of thorns and cut at an angle. Satisfied with his work, the gentleman replaced his hat on his head.

"You'll have to forgive me. This one is not quite so instant." he took a step back, "How do you feel?"

After about two more seconds, she removed her breathing tube. She took a huge breath of air. Tears sprang in her eyes.

"Mom!" she jumped from her wheelchair, "I can breathe! Mom! Mom, do you see!? Did you see what that guy did!?"

Her mother grabbed her in a huge hug, "Sweetheart! You're alright! I was so sure..." she held the girl in her arms, looking back up at the gentleman, "How can we ever repay you?"

"Ha! Did you even hear what I said?" he tipped his hat, "I did this because it is my mission to grant the wishes of this city. You have actually done me a favor! All I ask is that your girl take it easy until her lungs have fully healed. Do not let her become overexerted! I would hate to see my miracle go to waste, after all!"

Behind the mask, he was smiling warmly. Maybe this city was where he belonged. He loved being the center of attention, keeping people at the edge of their seats, his displays of wit setting the proverbial stage alight. He felt at home. He was so-!

In his distraction, he forgot about Bronev. A punch to the face left the gentleman sprawling on the pavement. The mask and wig flew off, revealing fluffy red hair and teary black eyes.

Bronev snatched up the mask, "Finally! I knew you had a weakness, you grandiose clown! Now let me just..."

Randall coughed before his smile came back.

"What's this?" Bronev turned the mask over, and some of the gold paint chipped off.

Randall stood up shakily, his toothy grin the only thing people could see. They recognized him, of course. Randall Ascot, the very one who was presumed dead so long ago. The one who had a whole city built for him because someone wanted to see him again so badly.

"It's fake!" Bronev threw the mask onto the pavement, "You bastard! It was fake! Where is..."

Randall wiped his mouth, his eyebrows drawn down in a smug smirk.

"You're not getting it now."

Bronev threw another punch, and suddenly the masked gentleman didn't seem so powerful after all.

***


	21. Chapter 21

Hershel held the mask against his chest, gripping it tight enough to turn his knuckles white as Desmond peeled off the highway and into the early morning traffic of London. Just a few more kilometers and they will have made it to their destination. Desmond tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he kept glancing back at the mask, as if afraid they didn't have it anymore.

"Where exactly are we going?" Dahlia held onto the back of Desmond's seat.

Desmond made a quick turn, earning a honk from another driver, "The chamber where we first met Aurora."

Hershel couldn't believe he had rolled with Randall's plan. Aurora had stayed behind to help with the miracles, and Henry and Angela were there in order to provide a getaway for them, but everyone else was in Desmond's car, almost back at the chamber with both masks.

"Oh! What if they've gotten hurt!?" Luke squirmed in his seat, "Maybe we should have left more people behind..."

Hershel swallowed the lump in his throat, but he didn't comment.

"They'll be fine. They have to be." Desmond turned onto the road that took them out of the city, "We took many precautions, even seemingly unnecessary ones. It may take awhile for us to reunite, but they will be okay."

He wasn't really convincing anyone, including himself, but they kept going anyway.

Once in the cavern, Hershel put the mask of chaos in its rightful place in the stone, and Clark did the same for the mask of order. The words inside each mask were projected onto the stone wall. Now, all they had to do was wait. As soon as Aurora arrived, she could put all the information together to create a complete answer.

"We're here."

Aurora arrived with Angela and Henry, supporting Randall with one of his arms around her shoulders. He was covering his face with his other hand.

"Randall?" Hershel caught him before he could fall, "Randall, are you okay?"

Randall lifted his head, revealing a crudely bandaged nose. He gave a wheezing, humorless laugh, "Bronev didn't think I was very funny."

"Oh no!" Hershel ran his thumb along the bandages, and Randall winced.

"Yeah, uh, he kind of beat me up, but Aurora got me out of there in one piece." Randall gingerly touched the injury, his eyes still full of reflex tears.

"It isn't broken, is it?"

"I don't think so. Just badly bruised and swollen." Randall coughed a few times, a trail of blood leaking from his mouth, "I'll get it looked at by a doctor once this is all over, but Aurora did a good job patching me up. It still feels like the same shape, anyway."

Hershel put his hand under Randall's chin, forcing him to look up at him, "Are you in pain?"

Randall let his smile fall, "Yeah, but I'll be fine."

Hershel sighed, helping him stand up, "Well, we did it. We got both masks here, and Targent is off our trail for now. Aurora, dear?"

Aurora had already made it to the slab, translating the ghost words into English. With both masks and the messenger, the answer was within their grasp.

Desmond scrutinized the words, his frown deepened into something dangerous, "I don't believe it..."

It was just as Hershel had been suspecting. What he'd been dreading. The only way to achieve the treasure the Azranians were hiding was to plunge a dagger into the heart of the messenger.

In other words, Aurora had to die.

She didn't react to the news, though it was clear as day. Hershel approached her slowly, turning her so she faced him. She continued to stare into nothing, her eyes betraying no emotion.

"Aurora." he said. She still didn't look at him, "Did you know about this?"

She twisted her hands together, "Of course I did. I've known everything from the start, I was just unable to tell you due to my powers hindering me. Until you solve the puzzle yourselves, nothing can make me give you the answer."

Hershel was heartbroken at how resigned she sounded. It was as if she had known her whole life that her fate was to die, it was simply a matter of when. She was a ghost at her own funeral, and she had already come to accept it by the time she was sealed away in that ice.

Hershel knelt down to try and catch her eye, "My dear, what do you take me for?"

That made her look at him, "Huh?"

"No treasure that requires lives to be taken is a treasure worth having." Hershel took her hands, "Especially not yours. We love you, Aurora. It's an honor to have you in our family. I prefer having you here, alive and well, over anything that Azran would have left for us."

Randall put a hand on her shoulder, and her bewildered expression shifted to him, "I'm honestly kind of insulted that you think we would jump at the chance to kill you. You're one of us, now. If we killed you, then we wouldn't deserve that treasure anyway."

Tears sprang in her eyes, "Do you truly mean that?"

"Of course we do." Desmond adjusted his tie, "It's a pity we can't have that treasure without harming anyone. I was at least curious to know what it is, but those two are right. We would be cretins if we killed you, especially just for some old reward."

Aurora began to bawl into her hands, "That is such a relief! They told me that any future civilization would give anything for what they left behind! They told me I was doomed no matter what!"

"Come here." Hershel stood to offer a hug, and she accepted it, still crying, "Aurora, we would never kill you. That would be horrible. You deserve to live just like any one of us. You deserve to be happy."

"Thank you, Professor!" she shivered, her face in his shoulder, "Thank you! I love all of you too!"

Hershel pulled away to read the rest of the inscription. The location of the final destination, where Aurora needed to be killed, as well as the next puzzle to be solved. It would be the last one.

"Bronev may still want that treasure." Desmond said, "He may still be willing to take any number of lives for it. We cannot let him."

Randall frowned, tugging on his collar when it became sweaty, "Hersh, we need to destroy the masks."

Hershel swept them up, and the ghost inscriptions disappeared, "Let's go. Hurry. Bronev may already be on his way."

Desmond drove even faster towards town once they were all back in their cars, Henry right behind him.

Desmond stopped accelerating, "So what's the plan?"

"We can go to the forgery in London." Randall suggested, "The masks are made of pure silver and gold. If we melted them down, the inscriptions would disappear."

"But what about the copies of the inscriptions?" Clark still held the mask of order, "There are many copies in libraries all over the world that could be recreated into accurate replicas."

"Then we must destroy them too!" Desmond glared at the road, "We cannot take any risks. Until we destroy every copy of the masks, Aurora is not safe."

"I can't believe you all are doing this for me." Aurora bit her fingernail, "You are all more civilized than the Azran were. They were so sure that nobody could resist their treasure."

"We can live without treasure, Aurora." Luke squeezed her hand, "But you're important to us. You've been around for as long as I can remember. If we lost you, we would mourn, just like we mourned for Claire."

Aurora gave him a side hug, "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. I didn't think anyone would mourn me. The Azran certainly didn't."

"Well then the Azran are idiots! They didn't know what they were missing!"

Brenda had her head on the seat in front of her, "I can't believe that after a hundred years of archeology, we've come to such a dead end."

"I know. I was certain the Azran were better than that." Randall crossed his arms over the mask of chaos, "I have half a mind to invent a new time machine so I can go back in time and beat some sense into them with my bare fists!"

"Alright Randall, that's enough." Hershel said.

"Don't lie, Hersh! You would do the same! I know you would!"

"We're in the car!"

"I don't need to be sassed by my own boyfriend!"

Before he could say another word, the car came to an abrupt halt, throwing everyone forward. Randall threw his hands up when the mask slipped out of his grasp. The airbags went off. The tires screeched as they failed to find traction on the road.

Hershel heard something through the ringing in his ears. It was Bronev's voice.

_"You idiot! They're still alive, right!? They better be!"_

_"Yeah, boss! Nobody died!"_

_"Good! Keep it that way!"_

Hershel forced his eyes to open. Desmond's car had been completely totaled, caved in one one side, with the windshield in a thousand tiny shards of glass. Bronev was holding both masks. Hershel reached out, and his arm shook.

_"Grab the girl. Then we're out of here."_

The last thing he registered before losing consciousness was a scream, and a blue light on the back of his eyelids.

***

_"Hershel! Hershel, please wake up! Say you're still alive!"_

Hershel was drowsy, but he reached out to the voice he recognized so well. The voice became clearer. He forced his eyes to open.

"Hershel!" Randall took his hand, "Don't scare me like that! I was afraid you would never wake up..."

He was lying on his back in the desert, beside the totaled minivan. Desmond had been pounding on his chest until he started breathing on his own. He sat up, feeling static on the back of his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Desmond took his pulse at the wrist, "Are you aware? Can you hear me?"

Hershel took a breath of air, the oxygen clearing up some of the fog, "Where's Bronev? Where's Aurora?"

Randall sat back on his knees, "He took her. She put up quite a fight, actually. She stopped fighting when she saw us, though. Maybe she was afraid that if she refused, Bronev would finish us off. They're probably on their way to the final puzzle by now."

Hershel gazed at all the expectant faces. Luke was crying into Brenda's sweater. Clark was nervously pacing. Henry and Angela were trying to get their car upright again. Dahlia and Flora had their arms around each other, almost as if they were afraid to let go.

Aurora was nowhere in sight.

Hershel leapt to his feet, and Randall caught him before he could fall again, "We have to get to her! We have to save her!"

"We're working on that." Desmond ran to help Henry start his car, "What's taking so long!?"

White smoke poured out of the trunk, and Henry hit his head on the steering wheel in frustration.

"It's no use! We're still too far from London!" Angela guided Henry away from the car, "How will we get there in time!?"

Desmond pressed a finger into his forehead, where his glasses used to be, before he threw an arm over his head and became Descole.

"We must act quickly! Further delays will only hurt more people!" Descole put a small device to their ear, "Raymond! Bring in the Bostonius!"

A shadow fell over them, and a giant blimp appeared above their heads, landing nearby and ejecting a staircase.

Descole helped support Hershel as everyone ran for the blimp, "Get inside! All of you! _We're going on a rescue mission!"_

***


	22. Chapter 22

Raymond piloted the ship while Descole gave him directions. Everyone else was just trying to pass the time before they arrived. Randall was sitting on one of the long couches, his head in his hands, still trying to ignore the pain in his nose. He worried it would scar. He hoped it wouldn't. He already had enough scars he wished he could be rid of.

"Desmond." he heard Dahlia say to Descole, "Why do you keep doing that?"

They made a show of looking outside, "Doing what?"

"Hiding behind that mask!" she crossed her arms, "You always put that mask on, even when you aren't going through one of your 'lapses'!"

Descole scowled before they took the disguise off. Desmond stood in their place, "There. I'm not Descole. Happy?"

"No, because you didn't answer my question!" she straightened his collar, making him look away, "You even use different pronouns as Descole, as if you're trying to remove them from your own identity."

"Because Descole isn't me!"

"Then who is Descole!?"

"Nobody! They're nobody!"

Dahlia opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when Desmond turned away and leaned over the console of the airship. She sighed instead, running a hand over her face.

"I don't like when they take me over." Desmond's face was hidden in his curly hair, "Descole is not a good person. They aren't me. I hate them."

Hershel walked behind the couch to get to him, "Desmond, Descole saved my life, in case you've forgotten. Even though they were...incapacitated."

"You mean drunk." Desmond rolled his eyes, "You can say I was drunk, Hershel."k

"Descole still held your moral compass. Even though you were drunk. Descole still saved me. What does that tell you about them?"

"Well, that's just the issue, is it not?" Desmond stood up straight, though he still stared into the clouds outside, "I only saved you because it was you. If it was any random idiot who was in danger, I wouldn't have bothered. It doesn't matter how many years pass, I still see you as the seven year old boy who relied on me to help them. Almost nobody else matters to me."

Hershel pulled his hat down over his eyes, "So then, tell me, Desmond. Who is Descole really? Are they another personality, or a piece of yourself that you have distanced yourself from in order to protect yourself? Are they really just your runaway emotions? Suppressed trauma from decades of abuse? Maybe it's the side of you who blames himself for losing everything. Maybe you created the character of Descole as a defense mechanism. In any case, is it really a good idea to let them go crazy apart from you? Wouldn't you rather take responsibility for what you are feeling in order to improve yourself overtime?"

Desmond was shocked. He opened his mouth, then he closed it. He tried to form an answer, but nothing came to mind. He was blank.

Hershel looked up at him, his mouth drawn in a soft frown, "So. I ask you again. Drunk Descole saved my life. What does that tell you about them?"

Desmond bit his lip, then the tears began to fall. He simply watched them as they fell from his face onto the floor beneath him. Raymond passed him a new pair of glasses, and he put them on gratefully. He always felt better with them on.

"Just think about that." Hershel left his side, "And stop being so hard on yourself."

He sat down beside Randall, who immediately wrapped him up in a hug and kissed his cheek, "Wow! You just scolded Desmond Sycamore!"

"I don't like being patronized." he said simply, "I figured it was only fair."

"I love that about you, Hersh." Randall nuzzled him affectionately, "You're a no-nonsense kind of guy. What was it you once said? 'Permission for sass is not needed'?"

Hershel laughed, "I did say that once."

The ship lapsed back into silence before an alert became apparent on the dashboard. The ship began to shake, and a loud alarm blared throughout the Bostonius.

"We're under attack!" Raymond swerved the ship, and Randall's shoes slipped on the floor as he got up.

"What!?" Desmond gazed through mounted binoculars, "Oh no! It's Targent!"

"Already!?" Brenda ran to the window.

"We don't have time to form a plan!" Desmond hit a button and controls appeared on the dashboard, "We must get past them! We cannot allow them to harm Aurora!"

Randall watched as Desmond shot at each of the missiles, noticing that the door on the landing deck of Targent's airship was broken, leaving a clear path inside.

"Hersh! I have an idea!" Randall ran to the back of the ship to grab a grappling hook.

"Is it dangerous?"

Randall smirked, "I think you know the answer to that."

"Randall, no!" Hershel grabbed his arm, "If you fail, you could die!"

"But what about Aurora!?" Randall snatched his arm back, "The sooner we get her away from that madman, the better!"

"But boarding their ship!? That is utter madness!"

_"Do you have a better idea!?"_

Randall's eyes stung as he glared, determination creating a bright spark in his pupils. He was not going to back down now. He could not just sit around and wait.

"If someone is in danger, I need to act." Randall grabbed Hershel's collar, "I'm doing this no matter what you say, so are you with me or not?"

Hershel's expression reflected what Randall could only describe as frustration. He looked as if he wanted to shout, caught between a million different responses that probably all amounted to, _You are as stubborn as a mule! Fine! Go get yourself killed! See if I care!_

Finally though, instead of shouting, Hershel let his harsh expression soften into a neutral one, "Fine, but I'm coming with you."

Randall opened the door of the Bostonius, and a blast of cold air nearly tore him off his feet. He aimed the grappler at the broken landing door on Targent's ship, then he fired. It got tangled in the door's hinge.

"What on earth are you-!?" Desmond appeared as Randall was tying off the other end of the rope.

"I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing!" Randall took a sturdy hook from the supplies, "Ready, Hersh!?"

Hershel had his own hook, "Ready!"

"Now you just wait one goddamn-!"

Randall leapt from the Bostonius, sliding on the hook until he made it to the door. He let go before the hook could hit the door, and he rolled to a stop just inside the ship, where all the lights were off. Hershel did the same, but when he landed, he stumbled.

"Careful!" Randall caught him, "The floors in here are slippery."

Hershel straightened his hat, brushing off his shirt and jacket, "Yes, I noticed."

"Now come on." Randall clicked on a flashlight he'd stolen from Desmond, "Aurora must be here somewhere."

The lower floors appeared to be on lockdown, so every door was blocked off. Randall did manage to get some of them open by kicking them off their hinges, but others were too sturdy to break. As they climbed up higher, they noticed that the lights were on up here, and there were only a few agents along certain hallways. Knowing that Bronev himself probably had his hands on Aurora, they climbed even higher, looking for the area that was busiest.

A bright blue light flashed from the room at the end of the hall, so both of them bolted for it, throwing the door open just as Aurora had backed Bronev into a corner.

"Professor! Randall!" Aurora ran to them, and they enveloped her in a huge hug.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Hershel took her hand to lead her out, "Now let's get out of here!"

Bronev bristled, "Don't just stand there! _Get them!"_

Randall was behind his two proteges, watching to make sure they were both safe. He looked behind him, and one of the agents raised a gun. He gasped softly, looking for anything that could help him. Passing by one of the doors he'd broken, he lifted it like a shield just as a gunshot rang out through the hall.

"Ack!" Hershel pushed Aurora down to her knees, "Randall!"

"I'm okay!" he dropped the door, "This whole place is in disrepair! If we aren't careful, we might-!"

The side of the ship collapsed, and Randall's breath was stolen as they fell.

Fear was a curious thing.

Nothing quite changes your mindset like the idea of imminent and unavoidable danger. Fear is instinctual. You do not consciously make yourself afraid. It's a survival mechanism. It's hard-wired into the brain of every conscious being in order to preserve their own life. It makes you want to avoid the feeling, because knowing there might be danger is a great way to avoid death.

This is the thought that flashed across Randall's mind when he realized he was falling out of the sky.

"RANDALL!"

Randall reached for the voice, catching Hershel's forearms so they were facing each other, their legs out behind them as they fell.

"Randall!" Hershel held Randall's shoulders in his clammy hands, "We're _falling!"_

Randall was heartbroken. He had never seen Hershel so terrified in his life. The wind whipped past them in waves, drowning out any other sounds that could be heard, but the way Hershel's voice wavered, the way his eyes seemed to sparkle with every tear that fell...

"We're falling out of the sky! We're going to die! We're all going to die and everything will be-!"

_"HERSHEL!"_ Randall forced him to look up, "Look at me! Hershel! Don't look down! _Look at me!"_

He did.

"We're never going to get out of this mess if we panic." Randall kept a firm grip on Hershel's face to stop him from looking away, "I want you to think! We aren't the only things that fell from the airship! What else do you see!? Do what you do best, Hersh! _Solve this puzzle!"_

Hershel closed his eyes for a moment, then he took a deep breath and looked all around them. Aurora was falling too, as were a ton of scraps of metal, rope, fabric, and other random items. A plan steadily formed in Hershel's mind.

"Randall, can you reach that rope!?"

"I'll try!"

Randall and Hershel held each other's hands as they reached out to grab the things around them. Hershel unraveled one rope into smaller strings that he used it tie pieces of the fabric together. Randall used another rope to tie each edge of the fabric to each other. When the structure was sound, Hershel looked all around for Aurora, finding her above them as the ground was fast approaching-!

"Aurora!" Hershel reached out to her, "Come here!"

She used her powers to propel herself forward, grabbing on with all her strength.

"Ready!?" Randall held onto them tightly, "Here goes nothing!"

He spread out their makeshift parachute, and it caught the air and slowed their descent, just in time for them to land on the ground, winded but alive.

Hetshel looked up as the dust settled. He'd landed with his head on Randall's chest, Randall's arm around Aurora. She looked up, clearly in awe.

"Ouch." Randall sat up, rubbing his chest, "That hurt."

"Are you alright?" Hershel hugged him, "You didn't hit your nose?"

"No, it's fine." Randall helped Aurora stand up, "Desmond's not going to be happy with me once we get back. Let's just hurry and..."

Another piece of debris fell from the sky, casting a shadow over them before they realized what was happening.

"Randall, _look out!"_ Hershel grabbed Aurora before the debris dug into the ground, kicking up sand and driving a wedge between them.

"Hershel!" Randall looked for a way around, but debris was still falling, "Ack!"

_"Randall, run!"_ Hershel held Aurora tight to his body, _"We'll catch up, just get out of here!"_

Randall covered his head with his arms before getting up to run, navigating through the maze of the fallen metal sheets.

"Professor!" Aurora gasped as he swept her up to carry her.

"Not now! We must get out of here!" Hershel lifted his hat to see the sky better, "Oh NO!"

Another sheet of metal blocked his path, stabbing the ground and trapping them in a circle of sharp broken glass and steel. A final piece of debris fell into the circle before Hershel realized that most of the fallen items had not come from Targent's ship.

A pod with a set of two swinging doors, with a hole through the left side for the knife that sat in the glass on the right.

Hershel's throat went dry before Aurora was ripped away from him, _"NO!"_

It was Bronev, "The Azran treasure is mine and mine alone! You have no right to take it from me!"

Hershel glanced behind him when a shock of red caught his eye. Descole was on the ground, a sword by their side, holding their abdomen as it was gushing blood. A sword that was sheathed at Bronev's side was coated in the same red liquid.

"Descole!" Hershel was stuck. He didn't know what to do. He was running out of time.

"When the knife pierces the heart of the Azran messenger..." Bronev stuck her in the pod and closed the doors, "The grand secret of the Azran will be revealed."

Aurora gazed at Hershel with a look of heartbroken fear. It made something twist in his gut.

Bronev lifted the knife over his head, working up the courage to stab Aurora through her heart while Hershel swept up Descole's sword.

He deflected Bronev's blow, the sound of metal clashing on metal reverberating off the debris around them.

"What!?" Bronev took a step back, "You cannot do this. I-!"

He stopped when he looked into Hershel's eyes, who grit his teeth in defiance.

"If you want this treasure so badly, then you will have to kill me for it."

***


	23. Chapter 23

Descole was frozen, forgetting about their wound for the moment while Bronev lowered the knife, his eyes not leaving Hershel.

"Please." Bronev lifted his free arm, "Step aside. I don't want to hurt you."

Hershel wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that Bronev was so familiar to him. He of course had made the connection that his old surname before he was adopted was Bronev, but he had simply chalked it up as coincidence, or even him being a distant relative. Now that the man himself was so close to him, he couldn't shake just how familiar he seemed.

"No." Hershel kept one arm in front of Aurora to try and shield her, "I will not let you harm her. As long as I am alive, she will remain so as well."

Bronev's fists shook in clear anger and desperation, "Get out of my way. I've come too far to simply give up now."

"I refuse." Hershel said, "If you want me to move, then you will have to force me to move."

Randall came around, peering between the slates of debris. He saw Hershel standing between Bronev and Aurora, protecting her life with his own. His heart had a throbbing pain in it as he watched on, a single tear escaping down his cheek.

"This is your final warning." Bronev dropped the knife to unsheath his bloody sword, "Move. Now."

Hershel shook his head, "I will move after you kill me."

Randall gasped, searching for a way to get inside the circle but finding nothing.

Bronev swung his sword, attempting a stab which Hershel parried, "Fine! You asked for it!"

The fight began. Hershel kept his left hand on his hat as he deflected each attack. He planted one foot behind him when Bronev lunged, leaning out of the swords' reach before going back in to get his blade between Bronev and Aurora. He continuously pushed him away from the pod until he was sure Bronev's attention was on him. He could not let himself get distracted.

He would not.

Randall ran to the closest wall where Descole was, "Des!"

Descole whipped their head around, "Ascot!? Why-!?"

"Hush! I need to get in here! Can you help me!?"

Descole glanced back at Hershel. He had deflected another attack, but he only dodged it by a hair. A graze across his cheek was the evidence of this. He regained his stance, but Bronev was clearly an experienced fighter, and amazingly agile despite his age. Hershel was still doing well, but even though he was good at fencing, he was being worn down, little by little.

Descole kept one hand around their torso as they stood on shaking legs, "Fine, but you're doing the hard work!"

Hershel stumbled, and Bronev knocked the sword from his hand. It landed a couple meters away. He was about to run after it when Bronev tapped his sword to Hershel's throat.

"I didn't want it to come to this."

Bronev's sunglasses had been knocked aside in the fight, and so Hershel now had a clear view of his eyes.

He finally recognized what he had been missing; Bronev was Leon Bronev, Hershel and Desmond's biological father.

Hershel backed up into the wall, forcing breaths in and out of his lungs.

"I don't want to kill you." Bronev pushed him farther into the corner, "I truly don't. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, Theodore. Just step aside. Stop this foolishness. Just let me have this one thing."

Hershel's hands tightened into fists. He was so tired and dizzy. He might really die here. He was prepared for it of course, but he was hoping he could still stop Bronev somehow. If he failed, not only would Aurora die, but he would as well.

And who knows who else would be hurt after that.

"I..." Hershel didn't mask any of the venom in his voice, "I am not your son. I only barely remember you. However, you are planning to take the life of someone dear to me, someone I have grown fond and protective of as if she were my own daughter. I cannot allow you to do that. I will guard her with my life."

Bronev's eyebrows hung sharply above his red irises, the wrinkles under his eyes betraying both his age and his stress.

Hershel inhaled, black spots in his vision, "If you kill Aurora, you kill me first."

"Fine. _Fine."_ Bronev lifted the sword, "Don't say I didn't warn you. Goodbye, child."

Hershel lifted his arms over his head, preparing for the ending blow-!

A clash of metal on metal rang out once again, and Hershel opened his eyes.

Randall had his own sword, and he had blocked Bronev.

Hershel beamed, "Randall!"

"Not now, Hersh!" Randall kicked Bronev's chest so he fell away from them, "Get your sword!"

Hershel dove for it, scooping it up and stepping aside to let Randall take over until he could catch his breath. As far as fencing, Randall was always the more skilled of the two, so Hershel felt safe letting him take the wheel for now.

Hershel reached for the pod that still had Aurora trapped, prying it open until she was free.

She breathed, _"Thank you."_

Hershel took her aside, _"We need your help now. Is there any way to destroy this machine? Are you still in danger if we do?"_

She shook her head, _"I'm sorry. I can't destroy any of this. My powers will block it."_

_"Then find someone who can."_ He gave her a boost to let her climb over the pod to the other side of the wall, _"Stay safe."_

_"You too."_

Hershel picked his sword back up, turning towards the fight between Bronev and Randall.

"Ha!" Randall parried another stab, "Is that the best you can do!?"

"Be quiet!" Bronev lunged for him again and again, forcing Randall to back up to avoid them, "You know the Azran too, do you not!? Why have you changed your mind about knowing their secrets!?"

"I wouldn't have if we could get it peacefully." Randall dodged a vertical swing before Bronev's sword hit the ground, "Think about it! Why would the Azran require a life to be taken in order to claim their secret!?"

"If the messenger hadn't been sealed away, she would have died of old age anyway!" Bronev swung his sword over Randall's head, forcing him to duck. Randall fell onto his back before he lifted his sword again to block another attack, "And besides that! What if the treasure ends up saving many more lives than we will have to take!?"

"That's not-!" Randall grunted as he pushed Bronev's sword back, holding his sword handle with both hands to ease the pressure, "Gah!"

"Will I have to kill you too, Randall?" Bronev let up on his attack, dodging Randall's sword when it flung towards him, "Or will you let me have my prize?"

Randall stood up, dusting off his jacket. He lifted the sword again, "I'd like to see you try and kill Aurora. Good luck with both me and Hersh blocking your path."

Hershel stood in front of the pod, trying to hide the fact that Aurora was no longer in it. If she was clever, they wouldn't have to wait much longer. They just needed to buy more time.

"Theodore. Randall." Bronev started walking towards Hershel, "I will not have this foolishness. Step aside, or I _will_ lose my patience."

Randall blocked Bronev's path with his sword, "Don't act like we're just children in need of a scolding. If you're so eager to kill one person for the sake of many others, then why not give up your organs? I mean, organ failure is a common cause of death. I bet if you died, you could save at least six people through transplants."

"Shut up! That's not the same thing!"

"Is it?" Randall moved so he was in front of Hershel, "Face it. We wouldn't kill you for your organs because that would be murder. If someone dies before they can get a transplant, that's awful, but it's not like you can blame anyone for their death. At least if I killed you, we could most definitely save someone, but you don't even know if what the Azranians are hiding is worth having. What kind of treasure is hidden behind taking someone's life!?"

Bronev took a step back, "No, no I...I can't! I promised Rachel...!"

"It's no use, Randall, he won't listen." Hershel stood beside him, one hand on his left arm, "Let's just keep fighting. We will tire him out eventually."

Hershel and Randall stood back-to-back, Hershel's right arm and Randall's left extended so their swords were crossed in front of them. As soon as Bronev lunged for them, Randall deflected the attack while Hershel fell back. It was just like fighting the robot mummies. They knew each other well enough to predict their next move. Hershel knew that Randall would jump forward the first chance he got, and Randall knew that Hershel was going to fall back. Sometimes Bronev would switch his attention back and forth between them, and they adjusted accordingly. It got easier for them overtime, but Bronev was getting tired trying to fight both of them at the same time.

Finally, just as they were all being worn down, a loud hissing sound made itself apparent.

Bronev gave one last stab.

"Ugh-!" Randall tried to parry it.

He missed.

The sword pierced right through his abdomen, just beneath his sternum. His pupils dilated, turning white, becoming unfocused.

Bronev pulled the sword out, and Randall gasped, holding the wound with both hands.

_"RANDALL!"_

Hershel caught him as he fell, and his trousers were instantly soaked with blood. He took off his jacket to wrap the wound tightly, laying Randall on his back to put pressure on it.

"No!" Bronev bolted towards the pod, finding that black smoke was coming out of it in waves.

"Ack!" Randall coughed, "I c-can't breathe..."

"Randall, I'm so sorry..." Hershel put all his weight on the wound, hoping and praying that it would _just stop bleeding._

_"Ow..."_ Randall was becoming paler, his heartbeat fluttering, his eyelids becoming heavy. His breaths were shallow to compensate for the pressure beneath his ribcage, but they also came quicker to compensate the lack of oxygen in his brain.

"Don't." Hershel felt tears fall from his face, "Don't you dare die. Don't close your eyes. Stay with me, Randall. Please. I beg of you. Don't leave me now."

"Freeze!" a pair of handcuffs snapped over Bronev's wrists, "You're under arrest!"

One of the metal walls had been moved aside by the Bostonius, allowing policemen inside. Aurora ran to them with Desmond close behind, his torso wrapped in bandages.

_"Hershel..."_ Randall wheezed, weakly lifting one arm to place on Hershel's cheek, _"Hush. It's going to be alright."_

Hershel took the hand, the other still applying pressure. Randall's hand was cold and clammy.

"But what if you die?"

Randall's smile was shaky, _"I'll try not to, but we made it out. That's what matters, right?"_

"Sir, we need to get him to the hospital." a paramedic took over, lifting Randall onto a stretcher to carry him away.

"Don't die!" Hershel called after him, "You have to promise! If you promise, then I can hold you to it!"

Randall lolled his head to the side, raising his voice as loud as he could.

_"Promise. I promise I won't die on you, Hersh."_

The ambulance left, and Hershel watched on after them, painfully aware of the stickiness all over his hands and legs.

"Professor!" Aurora fell to her knees to hug him, "You were truly willing to die for me...I didn't want that! I don't want anyone to die for me!"

Hershel leaned into her, too tired to hug her back.

"Why would you do it?" Aurora held his shoulders as she looked into his eyes, "Why would you put your life on the line for me?"

She really did seem confused. Hershel adjusted his hat, thinking of a suitable reply.

"I meant what I said before." Hershel brushed her hair off her forehead, taking care not to smear blood on her skin, "You are like a daughter to me. If Bronev had killed you and I did nothing to stop it, I...I would have never been able to forgive myself. Do you still doubt our sincerity?"

"It's not that..." Aurora twisted her hair in her hands, "I just don't feel I've done enough to deserve it..."

"My dear," Desmond offered his hand to help her stand, "That is not how love works. You don't need to do anything special in order to earn it, you just need the capacity for love yourself. It will come naturally in the right people."

Aurora let go, brushing off the skirt of her dress, "Yeah...I guess..."

"You'll get used to it. I swear." Desmond looked in the direction of the receding ambulance, "Hershel...I thought about what you said, and you were right. I'm going to take responsibility for my bad choices. From now on, Jean Descole is a character. Nothing more."

Hershel nodded, "That's good to hear."

Desmond caught Bronev's eye as he was escorted away, and his patient smile fell.

Bronev sighed, "Hershel..."

Desmond's eyes darkened, "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep walking before I go to jail for attempted murder. I'd be glad to be back there anyway if you weren't going."

Hershel stood up to stand beside Desmond, "You gave up the right to be our father the moment you joined Targent. Just be glad you ever got to see us again. Oh, and for the record, my name is not Theodore. My name is Hershel Layton." he crossed his arms, "I need no other name."

Bronev laughed under his breath, "Of course. Goodbye, Hershel. Desmond."

They watched the police car drive away. The silence afterwards made their ears ring. Hershel swayed, feeling fresh tears in his eyes.

"Don't worry." Desmond placed a hand on his shoulder, "He's in good hands, and you did a good job with first aid. That wound will probably scar, but he is unlikely to die at this point. Come on, then. Let's get to the hospital. We could all use a once-over."

Fear is not something you have any control over, but it is often said that courage is not the absence of fear, but doing the right thing in spite of it. To continue to fight, even when the fear of doing so is crippling, must be an act of true courage.

Thus, it was no surprise that seeing everyone together again, harmed but alive, was enough to break them. Targent was no more.

They were finally safe.

**End of Part 2**


	24. Final Chapter

Monte d'Or was truly a sight to behold at night. Hershel stood in the town square, a smile on his face as he watched the parade. News of the masked gentleman had spread, and so the city was bustling more than ever. Randall continued to wear the replica mask of chaos to perform all kinds of miracles, with Aurora pulling the strings in the background. The walking on air was simply a tightrope stretched between two distant buildings. The fire trick was just burning alcohol, with Aurora manipulating the flames to climb higher than they would naturally. The zipping around using smoke was just taking advantage of people not looking where he actually was, plus a bit of camouflage to hide in the shadows. The flowers hadn't magically grown out of nowhere. Instead, they had been planted beforehand, but they weren't seen until Aurora lifted their camouflage and made them glow.

And the curing of a young girl's pneumonia? All Aurora needed to know was why the girl was sick, so she could send her specialized nanobots to repair the damaged tissue.

But it's not like anyone needed to know that. To the unaware crowds, it really did look like magic, and that's why it was so captivating.

The gentleman disappeared in a shower of sparks just as the fireworks started, and everyone cheered.

Two arms wrapped around Hershel from behind, "Hi Hersh!" Hershel turned in time to see Randall remove the mask and wig, "Whew! Aurora is incredible, isn't she?"

Aurora was just behind him. She blushed at the praise.

"So..." Hershel led them away from the busy street, "It doesn't bother you that Randall gets the credit for your powers?"

"No. It doesn't bother me." Aurora clasped her hands in front of her chest, "I love doing these miracles, but I don't like the attention."

"So you leave the performance part to me." Randall took the lead up front.

Hershel tapped his shoulder, "And you aren't overexerting yourself?"

Randall gave a mock gasp, "My dear! I wouldn't dream of it! It doesn't even hurt anymore, trust me. _Henry! Over here!"_

Hershel gazed at the group of people that had gathered. Henry and Angela, Clark, Brenda, Luke, Desmond, Dahlia and Flora, Randall's mother, and two people Hershel didn't recognize who he realized must be Desmond's parents; The Sycamores.

"Hershel! My, has it been awhile!"

Hershel's eyebrows flew up, "Ma? What on earth are you doing here?"

Lucille and Roland Layton, Hershel's mother and father, were there too. Lucille clapped her hands, "Oh! This is so exciting! As soon as Randall told us-! Oh, I shouldn't say!"

Hershel turned to Randall, who had a curious smile on his face. It was the one Randall wore when he was hiding something.

"Randall?" Hershel gazed at all the expectant faces, "What's going on?"

Randall nervously looked at his shoes, "Hersh, it's been seventeen years since we met. The two of us have been through a lot since then, and...after all this time, I...I can't imagine myself with anyone else. We have been through hell and back together, and I just...I don't know, you mean so much to me."

Hershel's mind was reeling. He was trying to listen and put the pieces together at the same time, but it wasn't exactly seamless.

"You make me the happiest man alive...so..."

Hershel was still trying to process everything when Randall reached into his pocket and got down on one knee.

"Hershel Layton..." the glimmer of the diamond ring shone among the many lights in the city, "Will you marry me?"

Hershel drew a blank. He was speechless. Nothing came to mind. No words, no thoughts, just complete and utter shock. He finally found his voice again, though he was still reeling.

"What?" Hershel looked into Randall's hopeful gaze, "But I thought it was..."

"Illegal?" Randall stood up again, but he didn't drop the little black box, "It is in London, but we're in Monte d'Or! The city of miracles! This place basically sprung up out of nowhere less than fifteen years ago! It was built from the ground up, so we can rewrite some of the rules!"

Hershel looked at Henry, who was grinning from ear to ear, "Randall..."

"Hershel." Randall took his cheek in one hand, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you more than words can describe. If I could grant myself one miracle, it would be to stay by your side forever. Will you do this for me? Will you allow me to become Randall Layton?"

Hershel couldn't help it. He felt tears in his eyes. He couldn't stop them. They spilled down his face and soaked into his shirt. He ran his thumbs over Randall's cheeks before grabbing him in a huge hug.

_"Of course I will marry you."_ he said, _"I would love to. It would be my honor."_

_"Yes!"_ Randall spun them both in a circle, "I'm so happy! I love you so much! Oh! Put on the ring! _Put on the ring!"_

Hershel stepped back so Randall could take the ring from the box and slip it onto his left ring finger. Hershel held it up to the light, and it sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow.

The people around them began to cheer. Randall tossed the ring box aside to hug him again. One person could be heard yelling, _"Oh my god! Congratulations!"_ Hershel threw his head back, laughter breaking through his tears, resting his forehead on Randall's.

"So..." Randall looked at him, almost shyly, "Our first kiss as fiancés?"

Hershel nuzzled him, careful of his injured nose, "Don't mind if I do."

Nothing could compare to this. In a place that felt like home, surrounded by friends and family, in the arms of someone who made him feel so safe. Hershel wouldn't change a thing about this moment. The danger had passed, and all that was left was love.

Aurora twirled her finger behind her back, and a circle of flowers appeared around the two.

They were in a kind of blissful contentment by the time they broke the kiss, their eyes half closed, breathing in unison.

And they knew, there was no place in the world they would rather be than right here.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on tumblr! marshemillow.tumblr.com


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